- Reflections on the Motive Power of Fire
In the
history of thermodynamics , "Reflections on the Motive Power of Fire and on Machines Fitted to Develop that Power" (French title: "Réflexions sur la puissance motrice du feu et sur les machines propres à développer cette puissance") is an 1824, 65-page book by French physicist Sadi Carnot on a generalized theory ofheat engine s and is considered the founding work in the science ofthermodynamics . [Carnot (1890), Thurston's introduction.] In it is found the preliminary outline of thesecond law of thermodynamics , namely thatmotive power is due to the fall of caloric (heat ) from a hot to cold body. The paper sat unnoticed until 1834 when French mining engineerEmile Clapeyron put in on a graphical footing in his "Memoir on the Motive Power of Heat". [Dover edition.] Through Clapeyron's paper, German physicistRudolf Clausius learned of Carnot'stheory of heat and through a modification of Carnot's suppositions on heat, Clausius put the second law in mathematical form with his introduction of the concept ofentropy . [ Clausius, R. (1867). [http://books.google.com/books?id=8LIEAAAAYAAJ "The Mechanical Theory of Heat – with its Applications to the Steam Engine and to Physical Properties of Bodies"] . London: John van Voorst, 1 Paternoster Row. MDCCCLXVII.] By1849 , "thermo-dynamics", as a functional term, was used inWilliam Thomson 's paper "An Account of Carnot's Theory of the Motive Power of Heat." [Kelvin, William T. (1849) "An Account of Carnot's Theory of the Motive Power of Heat - with Numerical Results Deduced from Regnault's Experiments on Steam." "Transactions of the Edinburg Royal Society, XVI. January 2." [http://visualiseur.bnf.fr/Visualiseur?Destination=Gallica&O=NUMM-95118 Scanned Copy] ]The "Reflections" contain a number of principles such as the
Carnot cycle , theCarnot heat engine ,Carnot theorem ,thermodynamic efficiency , to name a few. Similar to how the "Reflections" was the precursor to the second law, English physicistJames Joule 's 1843 paperMechanical equivalent of heat was the precursor to thefirst law of thermodynamics .Notes
References
*cite book |title=Réflexions sur la puissance motrice du feu et sur les machines propres à développer cette puissance |last=Carnot |first=Sadi |authorlink=Nicolas Léonard Sadi Carnot |coauthors= |year=1824 |publisher=Bachelier |location=Paris |isbn= |pages= fr icon ( [http://books.google.com/books?id=YcY9AAAAMAAJ full text] )
*cite book |title=Reflections on the Motive Power of Heat and on Machines Fitted to Develop That Power |last=Carnot |first=Sadi |authorlink= |coauthors= Thurston, Robert Henry (editor and translator) |year=1890 |publisher=J. Wiley & Sons |location=New York |isbn= |pages= ( [http://books.google.com/books?id=tgdJAAAAIAAJ full text of 1897 ed.)] ) ( [http://www.history.rochester.edu/steam/carnot/1943/ html] )
*cite book |title=Reflections on the Motive Power of Fire – and other Papers on the Second Law of Thermodynamics. Edited with an introduction by E. Mendoza |last=Carnot |first=Sadi |authorlink= |coauthors=E. Clapeyron; R. Clausius |year=2005 |edition= |publisher=Dover Publications |location=New York |isbn=0-486-44641-7 |pages=
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