Linked from

The 48 pages that link to Second law of thermodynamics, each with the reason it gives.

• ThermodynamicsRelated: It determines which energy transformations can occur spontaneously.

• EntropyRelated: It turns entropy change into a constraint on the direction of natural processes.

• Ludwig BoltzmannRelated: Boltzmann sought to explain its statistical tendency without treating it as an absolute microscopic rule.

• Carnot cycleRelated: It rules out complete conversion of heat from a single reservoir into work.

• Thermal energyRelated: It constrains the conversion of thermal energy into work and the direction of heat flow.

• Thermal efficiencyRelated: It explains why a cyclic heat engine must reject some heat and cannot reach 100% efficiency.

• Thermodynamic cycleRelated: It rules out complete conversion of heat from a single reservoir into cyclic work.

• Heat engineRelated: It rules out converting all absorbed heat into work in a cyclic engine.

• Rudolf ClausiusRelated: Clausius gave this law its influential formulation: heat does not spontaneously flow from cold to hot.

• ExergyRelated: It explains why energy can remain conserved while its work potential declines.

• Entropy productionRelated: Its inequality requires nonnegative entropy production in isolated processes.

• Thermodynamic processRelated: It rules out paths that would decrease total entropy in an isolated system.

• Arrow of timeRelated: It gives the thermodynamic arrow its direction: toward greater entropy.

• Waste heat recoveryRelated: It explains why heat cannot be converted completely into work.

• Isolated systemRelated: It predicts the direction of spontaneous processes in an isolated system.

• Maxwell's demonRelated: The demon seems to violate this law by creating a temperature difference through sorting.

• Heat death of the universeRelated: Its statistical tendency toward higher entropy underlies the proposed cosmic endpoint.

• Loschmidt's paradoxRelated: The paradox asks how this macroscopic direction follows from reversible microscopic laws.

• Thermodynamic efficiencyRelated: It rules out converting all heat into work in a cyclic heat engine.

• Perpetual motionRelated: It rules out cyclic machines that turn all ambient heat into useful work.

• Perpetual motion machineRelated: A cyclic machine converting heat from one reservoir entirely into work would violate this law.

• Equilibrium thermodynamicsRelated: It supplies the entropy criterion that distinguishes equilibrium from accessible nonequilibrium states.

• Boltzmann's entropy formulaRelated: Typical high-multiplicity macrostates explain why entropy tends to increase.

• Isentropic processRelated: It explains why irreversibility generates entropy and breaks isentropy.

• Energy conversion efficiencyRelated: It explains why real energy conversions cannot turn all input energy into useful work.

• Ericsson cycleRelated: It sets the Carnot efficiency ceiling that the ideal Ericsson cycle reaches.

• Lord KelvinRelated: Kelvin helped formulate the law through limits on converting heat completely into work.

• Thermodynamic free energyRelated: Free-energy decrease under fixed constraints expresses the second law for the system and surroundings.

• Entropy as an arrow of timeRelated: It states the macroscopic direction that defines the thermodynamic arrow.

• Nicolas Léonard Sadi CarnotRelated: Carnot’s efficiency limit helped motivate the law’s later formulation.

• Thermodynamic equationsRelated: It restricts which thermodynamic changes equations can describe.

• White holeRelated: A white hole’s apparent reversal of black-hole behavior raises questions about entropy and physical initial conditions.