
56 The Principles of Thermodynamics
But unlike in the caloric theory, now the Carnot cycle is characterized by the
amount of heat Q
H
absorbed by the system at the higher temperature T
H
,andthe
heat Q
L
< Q
H
relinquished at the lower temperature T
L
. Even in the new theory, the
notion of efficiency can still be kept to mean the amount of work performed per heat
absorbed at the higher temperature.
The important difference from the caloric theory is that the heat relinquished at the
lower temperature is no longer the same as that absorbed at the higher temperature,
but is in fact reduced by the amount of work performed. Consequently, the efficiency
is given by ...