We now come to the last General Statement, which deserves special attention.
The next section devotes to that purpose as well as to further comment on the triadic
framework of PETH.
8.7 The Triadic Framework: All Reversible Processes Are
Heat Extraction Processes
With the exception of energy conversion in natural convection processes, conversion of heat into mechanical work is not natural but man-made. These man-made
processes are not spontaneous being in the reverse direction to spontaneous process.
There is the widespread notion that for all reverse processes, 100% conversion of
heat into mechanical energy is not possible, e.g., consideration of Carnot heat
engine in Sect. 4.6 concludes that the maximum amount of heat out of Q A that can
be physically converted into work is Q A T A À T B
ð
Þ =T A . However, an alternative way
of considering the Carnot heat engine in Sect. 8.6.1 shows that the EGP in association with the hot and cold heat bodies, D P S
ð
Þ univ , enables the extraction of heat
energy from the T B heat body converting it into mechanical energy of the same
amount. That is, the “extracted heat” is converted 100% into work.
The possibility of heat being 100% converted into work is not merely a game of
how we count “heat.” In Sects. 5.10 and 8.4, it is demonstrated by thought
experiments that for every isolated composite system, its EGP, which is a pure
EGP, enables the extraction of heat energy from a corresponding heat reservoir
converting it 100% into work. In all those cases, no other form of heat is involved in
the thought experiment processes. The claim, heat cannot be converted 100% into
mechanical energy, is, therefore, demonstrably false. This was, of course, pointed
out by Fermi (in Sect. 8.4) and, earlier, by Planck
We often find the second law stated as follows: The change of mechanical work into heat
may be complete, but, on the contrary, that of heat into work must needs be incomplete,
since, whenever a certain quantity of heat is transformed into work, another quantity of heat
must undergo a corresponding and compensating change; e.g. transference from higher to
lower temperature. This is quite correct in certain very special cases, but it by no means
expresses the essential feature of the process, as a simple example will show…If a perfect
gas be allowed to expand, doing external work, and be prevented from cooling by connecting it with a heat reservoir of higher temperature, the temperature of the gas, and at the
same time its internal energy, remains unchanged, and it may be said that the amount of
heat given out by the reservoir is completely changed into work without an exchange of
energy taking place anywhere. Not the least objection can be made to this. [36: 81–82]
General Statement GS-4.b has to be rejected. The issue, however, is more than a
matter of the falsity that heat cannot be converted 100% into mechanical energy. It
is about the concept of reverse energy conversion: whether such processes should
be characterized as energy conversion.
8.6 The Predicative Entropic Theory of Heat
217
The next section devotes to that purpose as well as to further comment on the triadic
framework of PETH.
8.7 The Triadic Framework: All Reversible Processes Are
Heat Extraction Processes
With the exception of energy conversion in natural convection processes, conversion of heat into mechanical work is not natural but man-made. These man-made
processes are not spontaneous being in the reverse direction to spontaneous process.
There is the widespread notion that for all reverse processes, 100% conversion of
heat into mechanical energy is not possible, e.g., consideration of Carnot heat
engine in Sect. 4.6 concludes that the maximum amount of heat out of Q A that can
be physically converted into work is Q A T A À T B
ð
Þ =T A . However, an alternative way
of considering the Carnot heat engine in Sect. 8.6.1 shows that the EGP in association with the hot and cold heat bodies, D P S
ð
Þ univ , enables the extraction of heat
energy from the T B heat body converting it into mechanical energy of the same
amount. That is, the “extracted heat” is converted 100% into work.
The possibility of heat being 100% converted into work is not merely a game of
how we count “heat.” In Sects. 5.10 and 8.4, it is demonstrated by thought
experiments that for every isolated composite system, its EGP, which is a pure
EGP, enables the extraction of heat energy from a corresponding heat reservoir
converting it 100% into work. In all those cases, no other form of heat is involved in
the thought experiment processes. The claim, heat cannot be converted 100% into
mechanical energy, is, therefore, demonstrably false. This was, of course, pointed
out by Fermi (in Sect. 8.4) and, earlier, by Planck
We often find the second law stated as follows: The change of mechanical work into heat
may be complete, but, on the contrary, that of heat into work must needs be incomplete,
since, whenever a certain quantity of heat is transformed into work, another quantity of heat
must undergo a corresponding and compensating change; e.g. transference from higher to
lower temperature. This is quite correct in certain very special cases, but it by no means
expresses the essential feature of the process, as a simple example will show…If a perfect
gas be allowed to expand, doing external work, and be prevented from cooling by connecting it with a heat reservoir of higher temperature, the temperature of the gas, and at the
same time its internal energy, remains unchanged, and it may be said that the amount of
heat given out by the reservoir is completely changed into work without an exchange of
energy taking place anywhere. Not the least objection can be made to this. [36: 81–82]
General Statement GS-4.b has to be rejected. The issue, however, is more than a
matter of the falsity that heat cannot be converted 100% into mechanical energy. It
is about the concept of reverse energy conversion: whether such processes should
be characterized as energy conversion.
8.6 The Predicative Entropic Theory of Heat
217