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Amplifying Systems and Available Energy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 March 2022

Extract

This paper considers combinations of frictionless mechanical amplifiers arranged in a cycle so that the amplified signal passes around through an endless chain of such systems the output of the last system being fed into the first. It appears that while each amplifier may be reversible in the absence of friction, the effect of the combination is such that the signal would be unable to pass around the cycle indefinitely, using the same energy over and over again. It is felt that the assumptions upon which this cycle is based are related to some of the conditions met with in consideration of open thermodynamic systems such as heat engines and living organisms when in finite environments.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Philosophy of Science Association 1955

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References

(1) Elsasser, W. M., “Quantum Mechanics, Amplifying Processes, and Living Matter”, Philosophy of Science, XVIII, 1951, p. 300.10.1086/287166CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(2) Shannon, Claude, and Weaver, Warren, The Mathematical Theory of Communication, The University of Illinois Press, Urbana, 1949.Google Scholar
(3) Wiener, Norbert, Cybernetics, John Wiley, New York, 1948.Google ScholarPubMed