CARNOT ENGINE

2ND LAW OF THERMODYNAMICS

2 nd LAW OF THERMODYNAMICS

 There are 2 equivalent statements of the 2nd law of thermodynamics

 Kelvin plank statement: It is impossible to convert ‘all’ the heat
extracted from a hot body into work.
 In a heat engine, the working substance take heat from a hot
body(source), converts a part of it into work, and gives the rest to a
cold body(sink). No engine has ever been designed which may
convert ‘all’ the heat taken from the source into work, without
giving any heat to the sink. This means for obtaining continuous
work, a skin is necessary. In other words, all heat taken from a body
cannot be converted into work, some heat must be given to a
colder body.
 Clausius statement: It is impossible to transfer heat from a cold body
to a hot body without expenditure of work by an external energy
source.
 In a refrigerator(heat engine running backwards), a working
substance(a gas) takes in heat from a cold body(inner space of
refrigerator), has a net amount of work done on it by an external
agent(electric supply), and gives out a larger amount of heat to a
hot body(external atmosphere). It thus transfers heat from a cold
body to a hot body with the aid of external supply. No refrigerator
has ever been designed which may transfer heat from a cold body
to a hot body without using external source.
 The 2nd law of thermodynamics cannot be proven directly. The main
evidence for its truth is that no machine has ever been designed
which would contradict to this law. Further, the deductions made
from this law are found to agree with partial facts.
 Equivalence of the 2 statements: We can show that the above 2
statements of the 2nd law are equivalent:
 Let us suppose that there is a refrigerator R which transfers an
amount of heat Q2 from a cold body to a hot body without having
any supply of external energy. It is a violation of Clausius statement.
Now suppose and engine E working between the same hot and
cold bodies takes in heat Q1 from the hot body, converts a part
W(=Q1-Q2) into work, and gives up the remaining heat Q2 to the
cold body. The engine E alone does not violate the law. But if the
refrigerator R and the engine E are combined together, they form a
device that taken in heat (Q1-Q2) from the hot body and convert all
into work without giving up any amount to the cold body. This is a
violation of plank statement.
CONVERSION OF HEAT INTO WORK
HEAT ENGINE AND ITS EFFICIENCY
 Heat engine: Any ‘cyclic’ device by which heat is converted into
mechanical work is called a heat engine.
 There are 3 main parts in and engine:
 1.A hot body called source
2.A working substance
3.A cold body called sink
 The working substance takes in heat from the source, converts a
part of It into useful work, and gives out the rest to the sink.
 This series of processes is called a ‘cycle’ since the working
substance returns to its original state.
 Work done= Q1 – Q2
 Efficiency: The efficiency η, of an engine is defined as the ratio of net work
done by the engine during 1 cycle to the heat taken in from the source in 1
cycle. Thus,
𝑤 𝑄1 − 𝑄2 𝑄2
𝜂= = =1−
𝑄1 𝑄1 𝑄1
 This expression is independent of the nature of the working substance.
 Since Q2<Q1, the value of 𝜂 is less than1. Further the efficiency of the heat
engine will be unity(100%) when Q2= 0(no heat given to sink). This is however
not possible in practice. This means that the engine cannot convert all the
heat taken in from the source into work.
 Efficiency of steam engines is only 10-17%, that of petrol engine is 30-40% and
that of diesel engines is 50-60%.
CARNOT’S IDEAL HEAT ENGINE
(Reversible engine)
 Reversible Engine: In an engine the working substance goes through
a cycle of processes. It takes in heat from the source, converts a
part of it into work and gives out the rest to a cold body, returning to
its initial state. During this cycle, the conditions of the hot and cold
bodies and of surroundings change. If this cycle can be traversed in
the reverse order such that all the parts of the engine completely
recover their original conditions and no changes are left in the
surroundings, the cycle is a ‘reversible cycle’, and the engine is a
‘reversible engine’.
 CARNOT’S HEAT ENGINE
 Carnot’s heat engine: Carnot developed a
plan of an idealized heat engine, free from all
imperfectness of an actual engine.

► The carnot engine consists of four components:

► 1.A cylinder with perfectly insulation walls but a
perfectly conducting base, and closed with
tightly fitting frictionless piston. A fixed mass of
gas is filled and some weights are placed on
top of the piston.
► 2.A source of infinitely large heat capacity at a
constant temp of T1.
► 3.A sink with infinitely large heat capacity at a
constant temp T2.
► 4.A perfectly insulating stand.
PROCESSES OF CARNOT’S ENGINE
 1.The cylinder is placed on the source and the weights on
the piston are removed in infinitely small steps. The working
substance thus expands infinitely slowly, doing work in
raising the piston. During this process, the substance takes in
heat from the source by conduction through the base. Thus,
the expansion of the substance is isothermal. It is continued
until the state represented by the point B is reached. The
curve AB represents the isothermal expansion of the
substance at the constant temp T1.
 2.The cylinder is removed from the source and placed on
the heat insulating stand. The weights are further removed
from the piston so that the substance is further expanded.
This expansion is adiabatic because now no heat can leave
or enter the substance through (insulating)cylinder. The
substance does work in raising the piston and its temp falls.
The expansion is continued until the temp falls to T2. The
adiabatic expansion represented by the curve BC.
 3.The cylinder is now removed from the stand and placed on the sink. Weights
are now placed on the piston in infinitely small steps. The substance is thus
compressed isothermally until the state represented by the point D is reached.
The curve CD represents the isothermal compression at the constant temp T2.
During this process, work is done on the substance by the ;iston and the heat
developed is given out to the sink.
 4.The cylinder is once more put on the heat insulating stand and, by further
placing weights on the piston, the substance is compressed adiabatically. A
further amount of work is done on the substance and its temp rises. The
process is continued until the temp rises once more to T1 and the state A is
recovered. The curve Da represents the adiabatic compression.
 Area(ABB’A’+BCC’B’)-Area(CDD’C’+DAA’D’)=Area(ABCD)
Formula of efficiency of an engine:
𝑄2 𝑇2
𝜂 =1− =1−
𝑄1 𝑇1
 Where 𝜂 is the efficiency Q2 is the heat given to sink, Q1 is the heat
converted to work
 T2 is the temp of the sink, T1 is the temp of the source

 The efficiency of Carnot's reversible engine is independent of the

working substance and depends only on the absolute temperatures
of the sink and the source.
 For the engine to have 100% efficiency(𝜂 =1), T2 must be 0. since, we
cannot obtain a sink at absolute 0, an engine with 100% efficiency is
a practical impossibility.