Carnot's rule
Carnot's rule, after French physicist Sadi Carnot, is an early formulation of the second law of thermodynamics.
It sets essential limitations on the yield of a heat-powered engines such as steam engines or internal combustion engines: there is an intrinsic impossibility of extracting more than a certain amount of mechanical energy from heat; this maximal amount is realized by the ideal Carnot heat engine.
External links
Categories: Physics stubs