Fourier Heat Conduction as a phenomenon described within the scope of the Second Law

• Main Author: Jesudason, Christopher G.
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: arXiv 2014
• Subjects: General Physics physics.gen-ph; Computational Physics physics.comp-ph; FOS Physical sciences; Norway; Narvik
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.1407.8140; https://arxiv.org/abs/1407.8140

The historical development of the Carnot cycle necessitated the construction of isothermal and adiabatic pathways within the cycle that were also mechanically "reversible" which lead eventually to the Kelvin-Clausius development of the entropy function where the heat absorption is for the diathermal (isothermal) paths of the cycle only. It is deduced from traditional arguments that Fourier heat conduction involves mechanically "reversible" heat transfer with irreversible entropy increase. Here we model heat conduction as a thermodynamically reversible but mechanically irreversible process. The MD simulations conducted shows excellent agreement with the theory. Such views and results as these, if developed to a successful conclusion could imply that the Carnot cycle be viewed as describing a local process of energy-work conversion and that irreversible local processes might be brought within the scope of this cycle, implying a unified treatment of thermodynamically (i) irreversible, (ii) reversible, (iii) isothermal and (iv) adiabatic processes. : 10 pages, 2 figures. Material for talk at conference and ICNPAA 2014 (Narvik, Norway) Conference Proceedings