Maxwell's Maniac from Windows Entertainment Pack 4

This was released 1992 and originally made for Windows 3.x.

The following are the instructions copied directly from Help - How to Play - Overview:

According to the second law of thermodynamics, the fate of the universe is to unwind (over a great period of time) like an old spring-loaded clock as high energy flows only toward low, and as order irreversibly gives way to disorder in a process called entropy.

Back in the 1870s, the British scientist James Clerk Maxwell caused an uproar when he unleashed "Maxwell's Demon." Maxwell's Demon was a theoretical being capable of opening and closing a gate between two chambers of unbalanced molecules. Through such precision control of molecules, Maxwell's Demon would be able to reverse entropy and, among other things, create wonderful perpetual motion machines. But could such a demon work?

For nearly a century, scientists argued about whether Maxwell's Demon could really defeat entropy. Finally, Maxwell's Demon was undone by the argument of French physicist, Leon Brillouin, in the 1950s. The argument? Simply that Maxwell's Demon would have to work too hard. Maxwell's Demon was put to rest.

But wait! He's back! Only he's not a demon anymore. Now he's a maniac! And he's trying harder than ever to keep those molecules flowing in the right direction. Won't you please help?