both the first law and the second law. The conventional approach often falls short of
the two requirements. This includes our conventional understanding of the second
law itself, e.g., a common example of a second law statement is, “First, heat flows
from hot bodies to cooler ones [spontaneously]. Second, it is impossible entirely to
convert heat into work—something is always lost in energetic transformation” by
Schneider and Sagan [1].
Schneider and Sagan here repeated the error of impossibility of 100% conversion of heat into work. As it was argued in Chap. 8, the error is not just whether
100% conversion is possible (it is) but that the concept of conversion of heat to
work is nonsensical: there is no purely reverse conversion. Conversion of extracted
heat into work is possible only as a triadic process element, an element-part of a
managed triadic relation powered by EGP. We call this process a reversible-like, or
reversible process, which is fundamentally different from spontaneous energy
conversion processes, i.e., nonreversible processes (see Sect. 6.5), such as heat
transfer and heat production.
Physics describes spontaneous energy conversion processes to be caused by
efficient causation, whereas, the managed triadic-relation processes are caused by
efficacious causation. While the study of heat transfer and heat production is part of
a thermal fluid engineering curriculum, a survey of engineering thermodynamics
texts shows that, in typical texts, the topic of engineering thermodynamics focuses
on efficacious reversible-like devices.
That is, “engineering thermodynamics” focuses on engineering systems
involving shaft work as one kind of thermal engineering problems. While other
subjects of thermal engineering such as heat transfer, transport phenomena, or
thermal fluids topics deal exclusively with heat transfer and heat production (from
resistive work or combustion heat release). In the former case, if positive shaft work
is produced the system is said to involve heat extraction as shown in Chap. 8; if
negative shaft work is consumed the system is said to convert mechanical work into
mechanical energy in the working fluid rather than heat or thermal energy as in the
case of converting “resistive” work into heat; what distinguishes both from the latter
case (other subjects) is that both are reversible-like processes while the events in the
latter case are nonreversible processes.
This disquisition essay highlights the fundamental difference between problems
of reversible-like processes involving shaft work and problems of nonreversible
processes. Shaft work, its involvement or not, is what demarcates between engineering thermodynamics and other subjects of thermal fluid engineering, yet, none
of engineering thermodynamics texts acknowledges explicitly this point. Though
the decision is made to separate the project of a textbook on engineering thermodynamics from this disquisition so that details of the textbook project can benefit
from time spent on its deliberation, this chapter makes some additional
points/comments on differences between the two, as preparation and initiation of
the textbook project.
276
10 A Theory of Heat as a Prelude …
the two requirements. This includes our conventional understanding of the second
law itself, e.g., a common example of a second law statement is, “First, heat flows
from hot bodies to cooler ones [spontaneously]. Second, it is impossible entirely to
convert heat into work—something is always lost in energetic transformation” by
Schneider and Sagan [1].
Schneider and Sagan here repeated the error of impossibility of 100% conversion of heat into work. As it was argued in Chap. 8, the error is not just whether
100% conversion is possible (it is) but that the concept of conversion of heat to
work is nonsensical: there is no purely reverse conversion. Conversion of extracted
heat into work is possible only as a triadic process element, an element-part of a
managed triadic relation powered by EGP. We call this process a reversible-like, or
reversible process, which is fundamentally different from spontaneous energy
conversion processes, i.e., nonreversible processes (see Sect. 6.5), such as heat
transfer and heat production.
Physics describes spontaneous energy conversion processes to be caused by
efficient causation, whereas, the managed triadic-relation processes are caused by
efficacious causation. While the study of heat transfer and heat production is part of
a thermal fluid engineering curriculum, a survey of engineering thermodynamics
texts shows that, in typical texts, the topic of engineering thermodynamics focuses
on efficacious reversible-like devices.
That is, “engineering thermodynamics” focuses on engineering systems
involving shaft work as one kind of thermal engineering problems. While other
subjects of thermal engineering such as heat transfer, transport phenomena, or
thermal fluids topics deal exclusively with heat transfer and heat production (from
resistive work or combustion heat release). In the former case, if positive shaft work
is produced the system is said to involve heat extraction as shown in Chap. 8; if
negative shaft work is consumed the system is said to convert mechanical work into
mechanical energy in the working fluid rather than heat or thermal energy as in the
case of converting “resistive” work into heat; what distinguishes both from the latter
case (other subjects) is that both are reversible-like processes while the events in the
latter case are nonreversible processes.
This disquisition essay highlights the fundamental difference between problems
of reversible-like processes involving shaft work and problems of nonreversible
processes. Shaft work, its involvement or not, is what demarcates between engineering thermodynamics and other subjects of thermal fluid engineering, yet, none
of engineering thermodynamics texts acknowledges explicitly this point. Though
the decision is made to separate the project of a textbook on engineering thermodynamics from this disquisition so that details of the textbook project can benefit
from time spent on its deliberation, this chapter makes some additional
points/comments on differences between the two, as preparation and initiation of
the textbook project.
276
10 A Theory of Heat as a Prelude …