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Heat Engines and The Second Law of Thermodynamics

The document discusses heat engines and the second law of thermodynamics. It explains that the first law makes no distinction between heat and work, while the second law establishes which processes occur spontaneously. The second law states that heat cannot spontaneously flow from cold to hot objects. Heat engines absorb heat from a hot reservoir to do work, but can never be 100% efficient because some heat must be expelled to a cold reservoir. The second law also means that perfect heat pumps and refrigerators are impossible.

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40 views24 pages

Heat Engines and The Second Law of Thermodynamics

The document discusses heat engines and the second law of thermodynamics. It explains that the first law makes no distinction between heat and work, while the second law establishes which processes occur spontaneously. The second law states that heat cannot spontaneously flow from cold to hot objects. Heat engines absorb heat from a hot reservoir to do work, but can never be 100% efficient because some heat must be expelled to a cold reservoir. The second law also means that perfect heat pumps and refrigerators are impossible.

Uploaded by

ShootingStarPhotons
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Heat Engines and the

Second Law of Thermodynamics


First Law of Thermodynamics
The first law states that a change in
internal energy in a system can occur as a
result of energy transfer by heat, by work,
or by both
The law makes no distinction between the
results of heat and the results of work
First Law Missing Pieces
There is an important distinction between
heat and work that is not evident from the
first law
The first law makes no distinction between
processes that occur spontaneously and
those that do not
An example is that it is impossible to design a
device that takes in energy and converts it all
to work
What happens if we put an ice cube in a cup of hot
coffee and leave it alone?
Ice gets warmer and melts; coffee cools.
(Conservation of Energy)
Coffee gets warmer, ice cube gets colder
(Conservation of Energy)
But the second result never happens
The Second Law of Thermodynamics
Establishes which processes do and which
do not occur
Some processes can occur in either
direction according to the first law
They are observed to occur only in one
direction
This directionality is governed by the
second law
Clausius: Thermal energy always flows
spontaneously from an object at a high temperature
to one at a cool temperature and never in reverse.
Heat Engine
A heat engine is a device that takes in
energy by heat and, operating in a cyclic
process, expels a fraction of that energy
by means of work
A heat engine carries some working
substance through a cyclical process
Working substance receives heat from hot
heat reservoir and expels heat to cold
heat reservoir
The source of hot or cool material (steam
and river or lake in thermal electric power
station; burning gas-air mixture (450
o
C)
and cooling liquid or air running through
the radiator (200
o
C)
Heat Reservoir
The intermediate steps are known
The system is never far from equilibrium
The system can be returned to its original state.
Reversible Process
Irreversible Processes
An irreversible process is one that occurs
naturally in one direction only
No irreversible process has been
observed to run backwards
the intermediate steps are not known
involves non-equilibrium states
the process can't be "retraced"
backwards
Quasi-static reversible process
Heat Engine
The working substance
absorbs energy by heat
from a high temperature
energy reservoir (Q
h
)
Work is done by the engine
(W
eng
)
Energy is expelled as heat
to a lower temperature
reservoir (Q
c
)
Heat Engine
Since it is a cyclical process,
?E
int
= 0
Its initial and final internal
energies are the same
Therefore, Q
net
= W
eng
The work done by the engine
equals the net energy
absorbed by the engine
The work is equal to the area
enclosed by the curve of the
PV diagram
If the working substance is a gas
Thermal Efficiency of a Heat Engine
Thermal efficiency is defined as the ratio
of the net work done by the engine
during one cycle to the energy input at
the higher temperature
We can think of the efficiency as the
ratio of what you gain to what you give
More About Efficiency
In practice, all heat engines expel only a
fraction of the input energy by mechanical
work
Therefore, their efficiency is always less
than 100%
To have e = 100%, Q
C
must be 0
Second Law: Kelvin-Planck Form
It is impossible to construct a heat engine
that, operating in a cycle, produces no
other effect than the absorption of energy
from a reservoir and the performance of
an equal amount of work
Means that Q
c
cannot equal 0
Some Q
c
must be expelled to the environment
Means that e cannot equal 100%
Perfect Heat Engine
No energy is
expelled to the cold
reservoir
It takes in some
amount of energy
and does an equal
amount of work
e = 100%
It is an impossible
engine
Heat Pumps and Refrigerators
Heat engines can run in reverse
This is not a natural direction of energy transfer
Must put some energy into a device to do this
Devices that do this are called heat pumps or
refrigerators
Examples
A refrigerator is a common type of heat pump
An air conditioner is another example of a heat
pump
Heat Pump Process
Energy is extracted from
the cold reservoir, Q
C
Energy is transferred to
the hot reservoir, Q
h
Work must be done on
the engine, W
Second Law Clausius Form
It is impossible to construct a cyclical
machine whose sole effect is to transfer
energy continuously by heat from one
object to another object at a higher
temperature without the input of energy by
work
Or energy does not transfer
spontaneously by heat from a cold object
to a hot object
Perfect Heat Pump
Takes energy from
the cold reservoir
Expels an equal
amount of energy to
the hot reservoir
No work is done
This is an impossible
heat pump
Coefficient of Performance
The effectiveness of a heat pump is
described by a number called the
coefficient of performance (COP)
In heating mode, the COP is the ratio of
the heat transferred in to the work required
COP, Heating Mode
COP is similar to efficiency
Q
h
is typically higher than W
Values of COP are generally greater than 1
It is possible for them to be less than 1
We would like the COP to be as high as
possible
COP, Cooling Mode
In cooling mode, you gain energy from
a cold temperature reservoir
A good refrigerator should have a high
COP
Typical values are 5 or 6

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