Text: Baron Kelvin of Largs (William Thomson, 1824-1907) excerpts (¶¶1-14 and 99-100) from On the Dynamical Theory of Heat, with numerical results deduced from Mr Joule's equivalent of a Thermal Unit, and M. Regnault's Observations on Steam Phil. Mag. 4 (1852) [from Sir William Thomson, Mathematical and Physical Papers, vol. 1, pp. 174ff] http://webserver.lemoyne.edu/faculty/giunta/KELVIN1.html Introductory Notice 1. SIR HUMPHRY DAVY, by his experiment of melting two pieces of ice by rubbing them together, established the following proposition: "The phenomena of repulsion are not dependent on a peculiar elastic fluid for their existence, or caloric does not exist." And he concludes that heat consists of a motion excited among the particles of bodies. "To distinguish this motion from others, and to signify the cause of our sensation of heat," and of the expansion or expansive pressure produced in matter by heat, "the name repulsive motion has been adopted."[1] 2. The dynamical theory of heat, thus established by Sir Humphry Davy, is extended to radiant heat by the discovery of phenomena, especially those of the polarization of radiant heat, which render it excessively probable that heat propagated through "vacant space," or through diathermanic substances, consists of waves of transverse vibrations in an all-pervading medium. 3. The recent discoveries made by Mayer and Joule,[2] of the generation of heat through the friction of fluids in motion, and by the magneto-electric excitation of galvanic currents, would either of them be sufficient to demonstrate the immateriality of heat; and would so afford, if required, a perfect confirmation of Sir Humphry Davy's views. 4. Considering it as thus established, that heat is not a substance, but a dynamical form of mechanical effect, we perceive that there must be an equivalence between mechanical work and heat, as between cause and effect. The first published statement of this principle appears to be in Mayer's Bemerkungen über die Kräfte der unbelebten Natur,[3] which contains some correct views regarding the mutual convertibility of heat and mechanical effect, along with a false analogy between the approach of a weight to the earth and a diminution of the volume of a continuous substance, on which an attempt is founded to find numerically the mechanical equivalent of a given quantity of heat. In a paper published about fourteen months later, "On the Calorific Effects of Magneto-Electricity and the Mechanical Value of Heat,"[4] Mr. Joule, of Manchester, expresses very distinctly the consequences regarding the mutual convertibility of heat and mechanical effect which follow from the fact that heat is not a substance but a state of motion; and investigates on unquestionable principles the "absolute numerical relations," according to which heat is connected with mechanical power; verifying experimentally, that whenever heat is generated from purely mechanical action, and no other effect produced, whether it be by means of the friction of fluids or by the magneto-electric excitation of galvanic currents, the same quantity is generated by the same amount of work spent; and determining the actual amount of work, in foot-pounds, required to generate a unit of heat, which he calls "the mechanical equivalent of heat." Since the publication of that paper, Mr. Joule has made numerous series of experiments for determining with as much accuracy as possible the mechanical equivalent of heat so defined, and has given accounts of them in various communications to the British Association, to the Philosophical Magazine, to the Royal Society, and to the French Institute. 5. Important contributions to the dynamical theory of heat have recently been made by Rankine and Clausius; who, by mathematical reasoning analogous to Carnot's on the motive power of heat, but founded on an axiom contrary to his fundamental axiom, have arrived at some remarkable conclusions. The researches of these authors have been published in the Transactions of this Society, and in Poggendorff's Annalen, during the past year; and they are more particularly referred to below in connection with corresponding parts of the investigations at present laid before the Royal Society. [Various statements regarding animal heat, and the heat of combustion and chemical combination, are made in the writings of Liebig (as, for instance, the statement quoted in the foot-note added to ¶18 below), which virtually imply the convertibility of heat into mechanical effect, and which are inconsistent with any other than the dynamical theory of heat.] 6. The object of the present paper is threefold: (1) To show what modifications of the conclusions arrived at by Carnot, and by others who have followed his peculiar mode of reasoning regarding the motive power of heat, must be made when the hypothesis of the dynamical theory, contrary as it is to Carnot's fundamental hypothesis, is adopted. (2) To point out the significance in the dynamical theory, of the numerical results deduced from Regnault's observations on steam, and communicated about two years ago to the Society, with an account of Carnot's theory, by the author of the present paper; and to show that by taking these numbers (subject to correction when accurate experimental data regarding the density of saturated steam shall have been afforded), in connection with Joule's mechanical equivalent of a thermal unit, a complete theory of the motive power of heat, within the temperature limits of the experimental data, is obtained. (3) To point out some remarkable relations connecting the physical properties of all substances, established by reasoning analogous to that of Carnot, but founded in part on the contrary principle of the dynamical theory. PART I Fundamental Principles in the Theory of the Motive Power of Heat 7. According to an obvious principle, first introduced, however, into the theory of the motive power and heat by Carnot, mechanical effect produced in any process cannot be said to have been derived from a purely thermal source, unless at the end of the process all the materials used are in precisely the same physical and mechanical circumstances as they were at the beginning. In some conceivable "thermo-dynamic engines," as, for instance, Faraday's floating magnet, or Barlow's "wheel and axle," made to rotate and perform work uniformly by means of a current continuously excited by heat communicated to two metals in contact, or the thermo-electric rotatory apparatus devised by Marsh, which has been actually constructed, this condition is fulfilled at every instant. On the other hand, in all thermo-dynamic engines, founded on electrical agency, in which discontinuous galvanic currents, or pieces of soft iron in a variable state of magnetization, are used, and in all engines founded on the alternate expansions and contractions of media, there are really alterations in the condition of materials; but, in accordance with the principle stated above, these alterations must be strictly periodical. In any such engine the series of motions performed during a period, at the end of which the materials are restored to precisely the same condition as that in which they existed at the beginning, constitutes what will be called a complete cycle of its operations. Whenever in what follows, the work done or the mechanical effect produced by a thermo-dynamic engine is mentioned without qualification, it must be understood that the mechanical effect produced, either in a non-varying engine, or in a complete cycle, or any number of complete cycles of a periodical engine, is meant. 8. The source of heat will always be supposed to be a hot body at a given constant temperature put in contact with some part of the engine; and when any part of the engine is to be kept from rising in temperature (which can only be done by drawing off whatever heat is deposited in it), this will be supposed to be done by putting a cold body, which will be called the refrigerator, at a given constant temperature in contact with it. 9. The whole theory of the motive power of heat is founded on the two following propositions, due respectively to Joule, and to Carnot and Clausius. Prop. I. (Joule).-- When equal quantities of mechanical effect are produced by any means whatever from purely thermal sources, or lost in purely thermal effects, equal quantities of heat are put out of existence or are generated. Prop. II. (Carnot and Clausius).-- If an engine be such that, when it is worked backwards, the physical and mechanical agencies in every part of its motions are all reversed, it produces as much mechanical effect as can be produced by any thermo-dynamic engine, with the same temperatures of source and refrigerator, from a given quantity of heat. 10. The former proposition is shown to be included in the general "principle of mechanical effect," and is so established beyond all doubt by the following demonstration. 11. By whatever direct effect the heat gained or lost by a body in any conceivable circumstances is tested, the measurement of its quantity may always be founded on a determination of the quantity of some standard substance, which it or any equal quantity of heat could raise from one standard temperature to another; the test of equality between two quantities of heat being their capability of raising equal quantities of any substance from any temperature to the same higher temperatures. Now, according to the dynamical theory of heat, the temperature of a substance can only be raised by working upon it in some way so as to produce increased thermal motions within it, besides effecting any modifications in the mutual distances or arrangements of its particles which may accompany a change of temperature. The work necessary to produce this total mechanical effect is of course proportional to the quantity of the substance raised from one standard temperature to another; and therefore when a body, or a group of bodies, or a machine, parts with or receives heat, there is in reality mechanical effect produced from it, or taken into it, to an extent precisely proportional to the quantity of heat which it emits or absorbs. But the work which any external forces do upon it, the work done by its own molecular forces, and the amount by which the half vis viva of the thermal motions of all its parts is diminished, must together be equal to the mechanical effect produced from it; and, consequently, to the mechanical equivalent of the heat which it emits (which will be positive or negative, according as the sum of those terms is positive or negative). Now let there be either no molecular change or alteration of temperature in any part of the body, or, by a cycle of operations, let the temperature and physical condition be restored exactly to what they were at the beginning; the second and third of the three parts of the work which it has to produce vanish; and we conclude that the heat which it emits or absorbs will be the thermal equivalent of the work done upon it by external forces, or done by it against external forces; which is the proposition to be proved. 12. The demonstration of the second proposition is founded on the following axiom: It is impossible, by means of inanimate material agency, to derive mechanical effect from any portion of matter by cooling it below the temperature of the coldest of the surrounding objects.[5] 13. To demonstrate the second proposition, let A and B be two thermo-dynamic engines, of which B satisfies the conditions expressed in the enunciation; and let, if possible A derive more work from a given quantity of heat than B, when their sources and refrigerators are at the same temperatures, respectively. Then on account of the condition of complete reversibility in all its operations which it fulfills, B may be worked backwards, and made to restore any quantity of heat to its source, by the expenditure of the amount of work which, by its forward action, it would derive from the same quantity of heat. If, therefore, B be worked backwards, and made to restore to the source of A (which we may suppose to be adjustable to the engine B) as much heat as has been drawn from it during a certain period of the working of A, a smaller amount of work will be spent thus than was gained by the working of A. Hence, if such a series of operations of A forwards and of B backwards be continued, either alternately or simultaneously, there will result a continued production of work without any continued abstraction of heat from the source; and, by Prop. I., it follows that there must be more heat abstracted from the refrigerator by the working of B backwards than is deposited in it by A. Now it is obvious that A might be made to spend part of its work in working B backwards, and the whole might be made self-acting. Also, there being no heat either taken from or given to the source on the whole, all the surrounding bodies and space except the refrigerator might, without interfering with any of the conditions which have been assumed, be made of the same temperature as the source, whatever that may be. We should thus have a self acting machine, capable of drawing heat constantly from a body surrounded by others of a higher temperature, and converting it into mechanical effect. But this is contrary to the axiom, and therefore we conclude that the hypothesis that A derives more mechanical effect from the same quantity of heat drawn from the source than B is false. Hence no engine whatever, with source and refrigerator at the same temperatures, can get more work from a given quantity of heat introduced than any engine which satisfies the condition of reversibility, which was to be proved. 14. This proposition was first enunciated by Carnot, being the expression of his criterion of a perfect thermo-dynamic engine.[6] He proved it by demonstrating that a negation of it would require the admission that there might be a self-acting machine constructed which would produce mechanical effect indefinitely, without any source either in heat or the consumption of materials, or any other physical agency; but this demonstration involves, fundamentally, the assumption that, in "a complete cycle of operations," the medium parts with exactly the same quantity of heat as it receives. A very strong expression of doubt regarding the truth of this assumption, as a universal principle, is given by Carnot himself[7]; and that it is false, where mechanical work is, on the whole, either gained or spent in the operations, may (as I have tried to show above) be considered to be perfectly certain. It must then be admitted that Carnot's original demonstration utterly fails, but we cannot infer that the proposition concluded is false. The truth of the conclusion appeared to me, indeed so probable that I took it in connection with Joule's principle, on account of which Carnot's demonstration of it fails, as the foundation of an investigation of the motive power of heat[8] in air-engines or steam-engines through finite ranges of temperature, and obtained about a year ago results, of which the substance is given in the second part of the paper at present communicated to the Royal Society. It was not until the commencement of the present year that I found the demonstration given above, by which the truth of the proposition is established upon an axiom, which I think will be generally admitted. It is with no wish to claim priority that I make these statements, as the merit of first establishing the proposition upon correct principles is entirely due to Clausius, who published his demonstration of it in the month of May last year, in the second part of his paper on the motive power of heat. I may be allowed to add that I have given the demonstration exactly as it occurred to me before I knew that Clausius had either enunciated or demonstrated the proposition. The following is the axiom on which Clausius's demonstration is founded: It is impossible for a self-acting machine, unaided by any external agency, to convey heat from one body to another at a higher temperature. It is easily shown that, although this and the axiom I have used are different in form, either is a consequence of the other. The reasoning in each demonstration is strictly analogous to that which Carnot originally gave. ... Part VI. Thermoelectric Currents. ... 99. Definition of temperature and general thermometric assumption. If two bodies be put in contact, and neither gives heat to the other, their temperatures are said to be the same; but if one gives heat to the other, its temperature is said to be higher. The temperatures of two bodies are proportional to the quantities of heat respectively taken in and given out in localities at one temperature and at the other, respectively, by a material system subjected to a complete cycle of perfectly reversible thermo-dynamic operations, and not allowed to part with or take in heat at any other temperature: or, the absolute values of two temperatures are to one another in the proportion of the heat taken in to the heat rejected in a perfect thermo-dynamic engine working with a source and refrigerator at the higher and lower of the temperatures respectively. 100. Convention for thermometric unit, and determination of absolute temperatures of fixed points in terms of it. Two fixed points of temperatures being chosen according to Sir Isaac Newton's suggestions, by particular effects on a particular substance or substances, the difference of these temperatures is to be called unity, or any number of units or degrees as may be found convenient. The particular convention is, that the difference of temperatures between the freezing- and boiling-points of water under standard atmospheric pressure shall be called 100 degrees. The determination of the absolute temperatures of the fixed point is then to be effected by means of observations indicating the economy of a perfect thermo-dynamic engine, with the higher and the lower respectively as the temperatures of its source and refrigerator. The kind of observation best adapted for this object was originated by Mr. Joule, whose work in 1844[9] laid the foundation of the theory, and opened the experimental investigation; and it has been carried out by him, in conjunction with myself, within the last two years, in accordance with the plan proposed in Part IV.[10] of the present series. The best result, as regards this determination, which we have yet been able to obtain is, that the temperature of freezing water is 273.7 on the absolute scale; that of the boiling-point being consequently 373.7. Further details regarding the new thermometric system will be found in a joint communication to be made by Mr. Joule and myself to the Royal Society of London before the close of the present session. [1]From Davy's first work, entitled An Essay on Heat, Light, and the Combinations of Light, published in 1799, in "Contributions to Physical and Medical Knowledge, principally from the West of England, collected by Thomas Beddoes, M.D.," and republished in Dr Davy's edition of his brother's collected works, Vol. II. Lond. 1836. [note in Kelvin's papers--CJG] [2]In May, 1842, Mayer announced in the Annalen of Wöhler and Liebig, that he had raised the temperature of water from 12° to 13° Cent. by agitating it. In August, 1843, Joule announced to the British Association "That heat is evolved by the passage of water through narrow tubes;" and that he had "obtained one degree of heat per lb. of water from a mechanical force capable of raising 770 lbs. to the height of one foot;" and that heat is generated when work is spent in turning a magneto-electric machine, or an electro-magnetic machine. (See his paper "On the Calorific Effects of Magneto-Electricity, and on the Mechanical Value of Heat."--Phil. Mag., Vol. XXIII., 1843.) [note in Kelvin's papers--CJG] [3]Annalen of Wöhler and Leibig, May, 1842. [note in Kelvin's papers--CJG] [4]British Association, August, 1843; and Phil. Mag., September, 1843. [note in Kelvin's papers--CJG] [5]If this axiom be denied for all temperature, it would have to be admitted that a self-acting machine might be set to work and produce mechanical effect by cooling the sea or earth, with no limit but the total loss of heat from the earth and sea, or, in reality, from the whole material world. [note in Kelvin's papers--CJG] [6]Account of Carnot's Theory, ¶13. [note in Kelvin's papers--CJG] [7]Account of Carnot's Theory, ¶6. [note in Kelvin's papers--CJG] [8]Poggendorff's Annalen, referred to above. [note in Kelvin's papers--CJG] [9]"On the Changes of Temperature occasioned by the Rarefaction and Condensaion of Air," see Proceedings of the Royal Society, June 1844; or, for the paper in full, Phil. Mag., May 1845. [note in Kelvin's papers--CJG] [10]"On a Method of discovering experimentally the Relation between the Heat Produced and the Work Spent in the Compression of a Gas." Trans. R.S.E., April 1851; orPhil. Mag. 1852, second half-year. [note in Kelvin's papers--CJG]

See Also: GAS, COEFFICIENTS OF EXPANSION

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