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What if Energy Flowed from Cold to Hot? Counterfactual Thought Experiments

Authors :
Leff, Harvey S.
Kaufman, Richard
Source :
Physics Teacher. Oct 2020 58(7):491-493.
Publication Year :
2020

Abstract

What if energy flowed from cold to hot regions? How would thermodynamics be different? We examine such an imagined cold-to-hot world, abbreviated here as a C2H world, and show that the unfamiliar direction of energy flow implies that two thermally interacting objects at different temperatures will not equilibrate. We find that there is no operational definition of temperature, and the first, second, and third laws of thermodynamics become meaningless.

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
0031-921X
Volume :
58
Issue :
7
Database :
ERIC
Journal :
Physics Teacher
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
EJ1272125
Document Type :
Journal Articles<br />Reports - Evaluative
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1119/10.0002069