Abstract
The brilliant French engineer Sadi Carnot (1796–1832) published his scientific publication Reflections on the Motive Force of Fire and on the Machines Fitted to Develop that Power in 1924. He said: “Wherever there exists a difference of temperature, motive force can be produced.” He argued that the reversible cyclic engine must produce the maximum work (motive force), but he used the caloric theory of heat, according to which heat is an indestructible substance. Carnot’s theorem might be taken as the beginning of thermodynamics. However, as an academic discipline classical thermodynamics was set up on the basis of two thermodynamic laws during the middle of the 19th century.
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References
J.-T. Wang, D. W. Zhang, Z.-J. Liu: Thermodynamic Coupling Model for Low Pressure Diamond Growth from the Vapor Phase, 175 pages (Science Press, Beijing 1998 and reprinted in 2000 ) p. 43
J.-T. Wang: Phase Diagrams of Stationary Nonequilibrium States Thermodynamics for Low Pressure Diamond Growth from the Vapor Phase, 212 pages ( Science Press, Beijing, 2000 ) p. 8
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Further Reading
A. Einstein: The World As I See It translated by A. Harris (The Wisdom Library, A Division of Philosophical Library, New York 1949) reference for preface
X.-C. Fu, W.-X. Shen, T.-Y. Yao: Physical Chemistry, 4th edn. ( High Education Press, Beijing 1990 )
D. Kondepudi, I. Prigogine: Modern Thermodynamics — From Heat Engines to Dissipative Structures (John Wiley & Sons, New York 1998 )
K. Wark: Thermodynamics, 4th edn. ( McGraw-Hill Book Co., New York 1983 )
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© 2002 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
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Wang, JT. (2002). Classical Thermodynamics. In: Nonequilibrium Nondissipative Thermodynamics. Springer Series in Chemical Physics, vol 68. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-04829-0_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-04829-0_1
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