James Watt’s thermodynamic works belong to the field
of irreversible thermodynamics. In order to reduce heat dissipation from the
steam engine to the environment, he devised and applied a method that
essentially enabled reversible heat transfer. With this idea Watt paved the way
for the next generations of scientists, but he is not credited in the
literature as its creator. In recent papers the author has presented the James
Watt’s formulation of the first law of thermodynamics. An inspection of the
energy conversion equation according to the first law shows that Watt
simultaneously formulated also the second law. His results claim that heat
cannot be fully converted into work.
References
[1]
Atkins, P. W. (2019). Thermodynamic Principles. AccessScience.
https://doi.org/10.1036/1097-8542.690700
[2]
Clausius, R. (1850). über die bewegende Kraft der Wärme, und die Gesetze, welche sich daraus für die Wärmelehre selbst ableiten lassen. Poggendorff’s Annalen der Physik, 79, 368-397, 500-524; English Translation: Phil. Mag. Series 4, 2, pp. 1-21, 102-119, 1851.
[3]
Goodeve, T. M. (1888). Textbook about the Steam Engine with an Addition about Gas Engines. Crosby Lockwood & Co.
[4]
MacLeod, C., & Tann, J. (2007). From Engineer to Scientist: Reinventing Invention in the Watt and Faraday Centenaries, 1919-31. The British Journal for the History of Science 40, 389-411. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0007087407009855
[5]
Mitrovic, J. (2022a). Some Ideas of James Watt in Contemporary Energy Conversion Thermodynamics. Journal of Modern Physics, 13, 385-409.
https://doi.org/10.4236/jmp.2022.134027
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Mitrovic, J. (2022b). Who Established the First Law of Thermodynamics? Chemie Ingenieur Technik, 94, 823-826. https://doi.org/10.1002/cite.202200037
[7]
Mitrovic, J. (2022c). Is the Term Latent Heat a Misconception? Advances in Historical Studies, 11, 57-64. https://www.scirp.org/journal/ahs
https://doi.org/10.4236/ahs.2022.112006
[8]
Mitrovic, J., & Smyk, A. (2021). Thermodynamics of James Watt—Ignored or Not Understood? Voprosy istorii estestvoznaniia i tekhniki (Studies in the History of Science and Technology), 42, 397-442. https://doi.org/10.31857/S020596060016355-2
[9]
Norton, J. D. (2016). The Impossible Process: Thermodynamic Reversibility. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics, 55, 43-61. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.shpsb.2016.08.001
[10]
Rankine, W. J. M. (1869). A Manual of the Steam Engine and other Prime Movers (4th ed.). Charles Griffin.
[11]
Saslow, W. M. (2020). A History of Thermodynamics: The Missing Manual. Entropy, 22, 77. https://doi.org/10.3390/e22010077
[12]
Tann, J. (2004). Watt, James (1736-1819). Oxford University Press.
http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/28880
[13]
Uffink, J. (2001). Bluff Your Way in the Second Law of Thermodynamics. Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics, 32, 305-394.
https://doi.org/10.1016/S1355-2198(01)00016-8
[14]
Watt, J. (1769). Method of Lessening the Consumption of Steam and Fuel in Fire Engines.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0d/James_Watt_Patent_1769_No_913.pdf %20or%20gb000176900913a_watt1769.pdf
