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This is the definition declared in the modern International System of Units in 1960. [13] The definition of the joule as J = kg⋅m 2 ⋅s −2 has remained unchanged since 1946, but the joule as a derived unit has inherited changes in the definitions of the second (in 1960 and 1967), the metre (in 1983) and the kilogram . [14]
Between 1840 and 1843, Joule carefully studied the heat produced by an electric current. From this study, he developed Joule's laws of heating, the first of which is commonly referred to as the Joule effect. Joule's first law expresses the relationship between heat generated in a conductor and current flow, resistance, and time. [1]
This scientific paper provided a substantial challenge to established theories of heat and began the 19th century revolution in thermodynamics. The experiment inspired the work of James Prescott Joule in the 1840s. Joule's more exact measurements on equivalence were pivotal in establishing the kinetic theory at the expense of the caloric theory.
Energy is defined via work, so the SI unit of energy is the same as the unit of work – the joule (J), named in honour of James Prescott Joule [1] and his experiments on the mechanical equivalent of heat. In slightly more fundamental terms, 1 joule is equal to 1 newton metre and, in terms of SI base units
James Prescott Joule FRS FRSE (/ dʒ uː l /; [1] [2] [a] 24 December 1818 – 11 October 1889) was an English physicist. Joule studied the nature of heat and discovered its relationship to mechanical work. This led to the law of conservation of energy, which in turn led to the development of the first law of thermodynamics.
Joule's apparatus for measuring the mechanical equivalent of heat. Rumford's experiment inspired the work of James Prescott Joule and others towards the middle of the 19th century. In 1850, Rudolf Clausius published a paper showing that the two theories were indeed compatible, as long as the calorists' principle of the conservation of heat was ...
The Joule expansion, treated as a thought experiment involving ideal gases, is a useful exercise in classical thermodynamics. It provides a convenient example for calculating changes in thermodynamic quantities, including the resulting increase in entropy of the universe ( entropy production ) that results from this inherently irreversible process.
The careful experiments of Joule, who developed heat in various ways by the application of mechanical force, establish almost to a certainty, not only the possibility of increasing the quantity of heat, but also the fact that the newly-produced heat is proportional to the work expended in its production.