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The Onsager reciprocal relations have been considered the fourth law of thermodynamics. [15] [16] [17] They describe the relation between thermodynamic flows and forces in non-equilibrium thermodynamics, under the assumption that thermodynamic variables can be defined locally in a condition of local equilibrium.
The principle of non-retroactivity is widely recognized for international laws such as treaties, [1] although treaties can have retroactive effect if the parties so intend. [2] It is also widely recognized in criminal law, at least to the extent of prohibiting criminal sanctions that were not in place at the time of the crime.
The zeroth law of thermodynamics is one of the four principal laws of thermodynamics. It provides an independent definition of temperature without reference to entropy, which is defined in the second law. The law was established by Ralph H. Fowler in the 1930s, long after the first, second, and third laws had been widely recognized.
The second law of thermodynamics establishes the concept of entropy as a physical property of a thermodynamic system. It predicts whether processes are forbidden despite obeying the requirement of conservation of energy as expressed in the first law of thermodynamics and provides necessary criteria for spontaneous processes. For example, the ...
The third law of thermodynamics states: As the temperature of a system approaches absolute zero, all processes cease and the entropy of the system approaches a minimum value. This law of thermodynamics is a statistical law of nature regarding entropy and the impossibility of reaching absolute zero of temperature. This law provides an absolute ...
Researchers have made a breakthrough in applying the first law of thermodynamics to complex systems, rewriting the way we understand complex energetic systems.
The history of thermodynamics is a fundamental strand in the history of physics, the history of chemistry, and the history of science in general. Due to the relevance of thermodynamics in much of science and technology, its history is finely woven with the developments of classical mechanics, quantum mechanics, magnetism, and chemical kinetics, to more distant applied fields such as ...
The above derivation uses the first and second laws of thermodynamics. The first law of thermodynamics is essentially a definition of heat, i.e. heat is the change in the internal energy of a system that is not caused by a change of the external parameters of the system. However, the second law of thermodynamics is not a defining relation for ...