Professor José María Martín-Ollalla from the University of Seville in his new work solves a thermodynamics problem that has remained unsolved for 120 years and corrects Albert Einstein.
In his research José María Martín-Olalla demonstrates, that Nernst’s theorem is inextricably linked to the second law of thermodynamics, despite the fact that Einstein argued. Walter Nernst’s theorem is based on an experimental observation he made in 1905. Based on his results, Nernst concluded that entropy tends to zero when the temperature approaches zero, in accordance with the second law of thermodynamics.
Nernst argued that absolute zero should be unattainable. Otherwise, it would be theoretically possible to design an engine that would use absolute zero as a cooler to convert all heat into work, which violates the principle of constant entropy.
However Albert Einstein questioned Nernst’s arguments, stating that such an engine could not be built and therefore could not be a violation of the second law of thermodynamics. Einstein separated Nernst’s theorem from the second law of thermodynamics and formulated it as a third independent law.
According to José María Martín-Olalla, Nernst, and Einstein neglected two important nuances. The formalism of the second principle of thermodynamics, on the one hand, requires the existence of the machine proposed by Nernst and, on the other hand, that this machine be a virtual one that does not consume heat, does not perform work, and does not call into question the second principle. The combination of of both ideas allows us to conclude that the exchange of entropy tends to zero when the temperature tends to zero, and that absolute zero is unattainable.
«A fundamental problem in thermodynamics is to distinguish the sensation of temperature, the feeling of warmth and cold, from the abstract concept of temperature as a physical quantity. In the discussion between Nernst and Einstein, temperature was only an empirical parameter: the absolute zero condition was represented by the condition when the pressure or volume of a gas became close to zero. Formally, the second principle of thermodynamics gives a more specific idea of the natural zero of temperature. The idea is not related to any sensation, but to the machine that Nernst imagined, but which should be virtual. This radically changes the approach to the proof of the theorem», — explains José María Martín-Ollalla.
Martin-Olalla also concludes that the only common property of matter near absolute zero that is not related to the second law of thermodynamics is the disappearance of heat capacities, also described by Nernst in 1912.
«The second principle contains the idea that entropy is unique at absolute zero. The disappearance of specific heat capacities only adds that this unique value is zero. It’s more like an important addition than a new principle», — Martin Olalla emphasizes.
The results of the study were published in the journal The European Physical Journal Plus
Source: SciTechDaily
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