The mechanical theory of heat, tr. by W.R. Browne

by Rudolf Clausius, W.R. Browne

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1879 ...for a passage in some reversible manner from the initial to the final condition. If the temperature is equal in the two conditions, as we shall assume in the examples which follow, then the integration may be performed at constant temperature, and the result will be, if we denote the initial and final volumes by «, and vv u'-n'-f'ST%-r)" whence equation (2) becoirfes tTJTP)dv+W & As the first and simplest case we may take that in which a gas expands without doing any external work. We may suppose a quantity of the gas to be contained in a vessel and that this vessel is put in connection with another in which is a vacuum, so that part of the gas can pass from one to the other without meeting any external resistance. The quantity of heat which the gas must in this case take in, in order to keep its temperature unaltered, is determined by putting W = 0 in the last equation; thus we have If we make the special assumption that the gas is a perfect one, and therefore thatpv--RT, we have dp _R dT v' whence Tdp_Tn_py R_ dT1 v R vp, whence (6) becomes 3 = 0 (7). As already mentioned, Gay-Lussac, Joule, and Regnault have experimented on expansion apart from external work. Joule annexed to his experiments, described in Chapter II., by which he determined the heat generated in the compression Fig. 18. of air, other experiments upon the expansion of air. The receiver Jr, shewn in Fig. 6, was filled with air condensed to 22 atmospheres, and was then connected, in the manner shewn in Fig. 18, with an empty receiver R', so that the communication between the two was only closed by the cock. The two receivers were placed together in a water calorimeter, and the cock was then opened, whereupon the air passing over to the receiver E expanded to about twice its fo...

Genres: Science

118 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1879

About the author

People note German mathematician and physicist Rudolf Julius Emanuel Clausius for his work on the laws of thermodynamics.

Clausius, born Rudolf Gottlieb, started his education at the school of his father. After a few years, he went to the gymnasium in Stettin (now Szczecin). Clausius studied mathematics and physics with Gustav Magnus, Peter Gustav Lejeune Dirichlet, and Jakob Steiner at the University of Berlin, which graduated him in 1844. He also studied history with Leopold von Ranke. During 1847, he got his doctorate from the University of Halle on optical effects in the atmosphere of Earth.
He then served as professor of physics at the royal artillery and engineering school in Berlin and Privatdozent at the Berlin University.

People consider Clausius as one of the central founders of the science of thermodynamics. His restatement of principle, known as the Carnot cycle, of Sadi Carnot put the theory of heat on a truer and sounder basis. His most important paper, On the Moving Force of Heat , published in 1850, first stated the basic ideas of the second law of thermodynamics.

In 1855, Clausius served as professor at the Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich, the Swiss federal institute of technology in Zürich.

Clausius won honorary membership of the institution of engineers and shipbuilders in Scotland in 1859.

In 1865, Clausius introduced the concept of entropy.

At the Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich, Clausius stayed until 1867. He moved during that year to Würzburg and, two years later in 1869 to Bonn.

Clausius won fellowship of the royal society of London in 1868.

In 1870, Clausius introduced the virial theorem, which applied to heat.

In 1870, Clausius organized an ambulance corps in the Franco-Prussian war. Battle wounded him and left him with a lasting disability. People awarded him the iron cross in 1870 for his services. Clausius won Huygens medal in 1870.

Adelheid Rimpham Clausius, wife of Rudolf Clausius, died in childbirth in 1875 and left her widower to raise their six children. He continued to teach with less time for research thereafter.

Clausius won membership of the royal Swedish academy of sciences in 1878.

Clausius received Copley medal of the royal society of London in 1879.

Clausius won foreign membership of the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei in Rome in 1880. Clausius won membership of the German academy of sciences Leopoldina in 1880.

Clausius won honorary doctorate from the University of Würzburg in 1882.

Clausius won Poncelet prize in 1883.

In 1886, Clausius remarried Sophie Sack Clausius and then fathered another child.

Clausius won Pour le Mérite for arts and sciences in 1888.

Clausius died in Bonn, Germany.