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The Future of Energy
book

The Future of Energy

by Brian F. Towler
May 2014
Intermediate to advanced content levelIntermediate to advanced
390 pages
11h 10m
English
Academic Press
Content preview from The Future of Energy
Appendix A

The Carnot Cycle

The Carnot cycle, when acting as a heat engine, consists of the following four steps:

1. Reversible and isothermal expansion of the gas at the “hot” temperature, TH (isothermal heat addition). During this step (A to B in Figure A.1, 1 to 2 in Figure A.2), the expanding gas makes the piston do work on the surroundings. The gas expansion is propelled by the absorption of heat, designated Q1, from the high temperature reservoir.

bm01-9780128010273
Figure A.1 A Carnot cycle acting as a heat engine, illustrated on a temperature-entropy diagram. The cycle takes place between a hot reservoir at temperature TH and a cold reservoir at temperature ...
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Publisher Resources

ISBN: 9780128010273