Bluff Your Way in the Second Law of Thermodynamics

By Jozef B Uffink. 2000

220 citations recorded by the source corpus.

The aim of this article is to analyse the relation between the second law of thermodynamics and the so-called arrow of time. For this purpose, a number of different aspects in this arrow of time are distinguished, in particular those of time-(a)symmetry and of (ir)reversibility. Next I review versions of the second law in the work of Carnot, Clausius, Kelvin, Planck, Gibbs, Carath\'eodory and Lieb and Yngvason, and investigate their connection with these aspects of the arrow of time. It is shown that this connection varies a great deal along with these formulations of the second law. According to the famous formulation by Planck, the second law expresses the irreversibility of natural processes. But in many other formulations irreversibility or even time-asymmetry plays no role. I therefore argue for the view that the second law has nothing to do with the arrow of time

Subfields: Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics, Statistical and Nonlinear Physics

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/833c75c1c9d9388fd8c4526d59670c01a4160946

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics

1. Hartmut Löwen
2. Michael te Vrugt
3. Jozef B Uffink
4. Raphael Wittkowski

In Statistical and Nonlinear Physics

1. Hartmut Löwen
2. Michael te Vrugt
3. Jozef B Uffink
4. Raphael Wittkowski

Citations in the corpus

• Classical dynamical density functional theory: from fundamentals to applications (2020, background): “[390] for a detailed discussion) and has even been granted the status of a “minus first law of thermodynamics” by Brown and Uffink [391].”
• Compendium of the Foundations of Classical Statistical Physics (2007, background): “See Uffink (2001) for a discussion.”