Thomson\'s formulation of the second law for macroscopic and finite work sources

doi:10.3390/e6010030

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Entropy 2004, 6(1), 30-37; doi:10.3390/e6010030

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Thomson\'s formulation of the second law for macroscopic and finite work sources

Armen E. Allahverdyan ^1,2^,* , Roger Balian ³^,* and Theo M. Nieuwenhuizen ¹^,*

¹ Institute for Theoretical Physics, Valckenierstraat 65, 1018 XE Amsterdam, Netherlands ² Yerevan Physics Institute, Alikhanian Brothers St. 2, Yerevan 375036, Armenia ³ PhT, CEA-Saclay, 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette cedex, France

* Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Received: 8 August 2003 / Accepted: 30 December 2003 / Published: 18 March 2004

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Quantum Limits to the Second Law of Thermodynamics)

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Abstract: Thomson\'s formulation of the second law states: no work can be extracted from an equilibrium system through a cyclic process. A simple, general proof is presented for the case of macroscopic sources of work. Next the setup is generalized towards situations, where the corresponding work-source is not macroscopic. It is shown that using such a source one can extract energy from an equilibrium system by means of a cyclic process. However, this extraction is accompanied by an entropy increase of the source, in a manner resembling the Clausius inequality.

Keywords: second law; work; entropy

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MDPI and ACS Style

Allahverdyan, A.E.; Balian, R.; Nieuwenhuizen, T.M. Thomson\'s formulation of the second law for macroscopic and finite work sources. Entropy 2004, 6, 30-37.

AMA Style

Allahverdyan A.E., Balian R., Nieuwenhuizen T.M. Thomson\'s formulation of the second law for macroscopic and finite work sources. Entropy. 2004; 6(1):30-37.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Allahverdyan, Armen E.; Balian, Roger; Nieuwenhuizen, Theo M. 2004. "Thomson\'s formulation of the second law for macroscopic and finite work sources." Entropy 6, no. 1: 30-37.

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