Revisiting the Second Law of Thermodynamics: Challenges and Misconceptions
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31181/rme322Keywords:
Carnot Cycle, Heat Engine, Entropy, Energy Conservation.Abstract
Since the 1850s, numerous thermodynamic concepts have been proposed. Nicolas Carnot laid the foundation of the second law of thermodynamics in 1824 with insightful work on reversible cycles, well before James Joule’s 1843 discovery of the energy conservation law. In 1941, Leonard Bridgman remarked that the second thermodynamic law had been formulated nearly as often as discussed, highlighting its ongoing complexity and intrigue. Despite extensive discussions and formulations, understanding the second law remains challenging, prompting continuous efforts to clarify it, as explored in this paper. The second law of thermodynamics, which addresses irreversible transformations and the direction of natural processes, encompasses a wide range of phenomena across the universe, along with various challenges and misconceptions. The current paper revisits and modifies Carnot’s original proposals for reversible heat engines. It emphasizes the difficulty of achieving more efficient reversible processes within the context of irreversible processes, which adds complexity to the second law and its potential violations. However, the concept remains that the entropy of every energy system is always increasing, and entropy cannot be removed, only transferred or altered.
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