Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: A mathematical Kelvin formulation of the second law of thermodynamics in the form of a limit is proposed: If the efficiency of a heat engine approaches unity, then the rejected work vanishes. This limit allows deriving the behavior of a Carnot cycle near absolute zero of temperature. Also, the unattainability of absolute zero can be shown. In turn, these results allow deriving the behavior of the entropy near absolute zero, as has already been shown previously. The point of view is the phenomenological, macroscopic, and non-statistical one of classical thermodynamics.
Source: Zeitschrift für Naturforschung A
Author: Matthias Heidrich
Language: English
Subfield: Statistical and Nonlinear Physics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7155643201