Reversible engines with different efficiencies

  • Thread starter Thread starter AbhiNature
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Engines Reversible
AI Thread Summary
Reversible heat engines operating between the same two temperature reservoirs must have identical efficiencies, as established by the Carnot theorem. If one engine were more efficient than another, it would create a contradiction when both are run in reverse, resulting in zero net heat flow from the hot reservoir. This demonstrates that all reversible engines, regardless of their construction or working fluid, yield the same efficiency at given temperatures. Therefore, it is impossible to have two different reversible engines with varying efficiencies at the same working temperatures. The discussion emphasizes the consistency of the second law of thermodynamics in relation to engine efficiency.
AbhiNature
Messages
16
Reaction score
0
Is is possible to have 2 different engines with all the following criterion?

1) Are reversible
2) Work differently (different cycles)
3) At the same working temepratures have different efficiencies.

E.g.
Working temperatures 100K and 50K.
Engine 1: Carnot's
Efficiency - 50%

Engine2: Some cycle
Efficiency - 20%

Thanks!
 
Science news on Phys.org
All Reversible Heat Engines have same efficiency when operating between the same two temperature reservoirs.

This is proved by showing that there is a contradiction, if they do not. We set the two heat engines to be compared operating between the same two heat reservoirs. Assume one is more efficient than the other. Run the less efficient one in reverse (as a refrigerator) using the fraction of the work from the more efficient engine that the less efficient engine would produce running forward. At that point there is zero net heat flow from the hot reservoir and the differential in work between the two engines is comes from the net heat removed from the cold heat reservoir. This contradicts the Carnot assumption. Thus to stay consistent:
Every reversible heat engine operating between the same two temperature reservoirs have identical efficiency. This means no matter how a reversible heat engine is constructed or what the working fluid is, its efficiency is the same as all other heat engines working from the same two temperatures.
 
I thought so. It is as improbable to create a lesser efficient reversible engine (compared to Carnot's) as to create a more efficient reversible engine.
Whenever second law is violated, maybe, it would be due to the lesser efficient engine.
 
Thread 'Thermo Hydrodynamic Effect'
Vídeo: The footage was filmed in real time. The rotor takes advantage of the thermal agitation of the water. The agitation is uniform, so the resultant is zero. When the aluminum cylinders containing frozen water are immersed in the water, about 30% of their surface is in contact with the water, and the rest is thermally insulated by styrofoam. This creates an imbalance in the agitation: the cold side of the water "shrinks," so that the hot side pushes the cylinders toward the cold...
Back
Top