The Entropy Principle Thermodynamics for the Unsatisfied
Entropy – the key concept of thermodynamics, clearly explained and carefully illustrated. This book presents an accurate definition of entropy in classical thermodynamics which does not “put the cart before the horse” and is suitable for basic and advance
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André Thess
The Entropy Principle Thermodynamics for the Unsatisfied With 55 Figures and 4 Tables
Author Prof. Dr. André Thess Institute of Thermodynamics and Fluid Mechanics Ilmenau University of Technology P.O. Box 100565 98684 Ilmenau Germany
ISBN 978-3-642-13348-0 Library of Congress Control Number: 2010936708 © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2011 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitations, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilm or in any other way, and storage in data banks. Duplication of this publication or parts thereof is permitted only under the provisions of the German Copyright Law of September 9, 1965, in its current version, and permission for use must always be obtained from Springer. Violations are liable to prosecution under the German Copyright Law. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. Typesetting: Stasch, Bayreuth ([email protected]) Language editing: Stephanie Polster, USA Production: Heather King Printed on acid-free paper 987654321 springer.com
Temperature … is a corollary of entropy; it is epilogue rather than prologue. Elliott Lieb, Jakob Yngvason
Preface
Is it possible to define entropy in classical thermodynamics in a way that is mathematically accurate and at the same time easy to understand? I have often asked this question to myself first when I was a student and later when I became a professor of mechanical engineering and had to teach thermodynamics. Unfortunately, I never got a satisfactory answer. In textbooks for physicists I often found the claim that entropy can only be “really” understood when one has recourse to statistical physics. But it appeared strange to me that a physical law as perfect as the second law of thermodynamics, which is closely related to entropy, should depend on tiny details of the molecular structure of the matter that surrounds us. By contrast, in textbooks for engineers entropy was most often defined on the basis of temperature and heat. However, I never felt comfortable with the idea that such a fundamental quantity as entropy should be determined on the basis of two concepts which cannot be accurately defined without entropy. Given this state of affairs, I came close to resignation and was on the verge of believing that an accurate and logically consistent definition of entropy in the framework of a macroscopic theory was altogether impossible. In the spring of the year 2000, I came across an article entitled “A Fresh Look at Entropy and the Second Law of Thermodynamics” written by the physicists Elliott Lieb and Jakob Yngvason which appeared in the journal Physics Today. Their idea that the concept of adiabatic accessibility rather than temperature or heat
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