Brownian ratchet
Brownian ratchet noun: an apparent perpetual motion machine, the subject of a thought experiment, that would consist of a tiny paddle wheel and a ratchet, and might seem to be able to extract useful work from random fluctuations (heat) in a system at thermal equilibrium, in violation of the second law of thermodynamics.
Noun
Brownian ratchet (plural Brownian ratchets)
- An apparent perpetual motion machine, the subject of a thought experiment, that would consist of a tiny paddle wheel and a ratchet, and might seem to be able to extract useful work from random fluctuations (heat) in a system at thermal equilibrium, in violation of the second law of thermodynamics.
- Synonyms:
- Feynman-Smoluchowski ratchet
Synonyms of Brownian ratchet
Forms of Brownian ratchet
| plural | Brownian ratchets |
|---|
Origin of Brownian ratchet
In reference to Brownian motion.
Questions about Brownian ratchet
- What does Brownian ratchet mean?
- Brownian ratchet means an apparent perpetual motion machine, the subject of a thought experiment, that would consist of a tiny paddle wheel and a ratchet, and might seem to be able to extract useful work from random fluctuations (heat) in a system at thermal equilibrium, in violation of the second law of thermodynamics.
- What part of speech is Brownian ratchet?
- Brownian ratchet is a noun.
- What is the plural of Brownian ratchet?
- The plural of Brownian ratchet is Brownian ratchets.
Words near Brownian ratchet in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: Brownian ratchet (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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