PHYS 2 Chapter Notes - Chapter 20.5 - 20.8: Carnot Heat Engine, Isothermal Process, Thermodynamics
Document Summary
Limits the availability of energy and the ways in which it can be used and converted. It is impossible for any process to have as its sole result the transfer of heat from a cooler to a hotter body. Carnot cycle = the cycle of a hypothetical, idealized heat engine that has the maximum possible efficiency consistent with the second law. For maximum heat-engine efficiency, we must avoid all irreversible processes. During carnot cycle, there must be no finite temperature difference. Every process that involves heat transfer must be isothermal. Every process in the carnot cycle must be either isothermal or adiabatic. Gas expands isothermally at temperature , absorbing heat. Gas is compressed isothermally at , rejecting heat. Gas is compressed adiabatically back to its initial state at temperature. Efficiency depends only on the temperatures of the two heat reservoirs. Each step in carnot cycle is reversible --> entire cycle may be reversed.
