You certainly know the second law of thermodynamics, Do you know its connection to other laws of physics and chemistry?

Qiong Ye (1) , François-Xavier Machu (2) , Qiuping A. Wang (1, 2)

1 IMMM - Institut des Molécules et Matériaux du Mans
2 ESIEA - Ecole Supérieure d'Informatique Electronique Automatique [Paris]

Violation of the second law of thermodynamics has almost become a trivial locution today in physics, so often we hear about its experimental evidences, theoretical deduction and arguments coming from statistical mechanical or even quantum mechanical considerations. In this work, we bring to light an evidence against this violation. We propose a short revisit of the trilogy of the discovery of the second law, in order to bring out an almost hidden connection between the second law and the first law of energy conservation. This connection guarantees the second law of entropy increase is an inviolable iron rule and a fundamental law of physics, just like the law of energy conservation. Any presumable violation of the second law, even a probabilistic one, inevitably violates the law of energy and mass conservation, and undermines all fundamental laws of physics and chemistry. We conclude by summarizing an alternative pathway to the second law taking into account the multiplicity of paths of random motion.

Mots clés: Entropy; second law of thermodynamics; random dynamics; energy; energy conservation; Carnot engine; perpetual motion

Domaines: Mécanique statistique [cond-mat.stat-mech]

Qiong Ye, François-Xavier Machu, Qiuping A. Wang. You certainly know the second law of thermodynamics, Do you know its connection to other laws of physics and chemistry?. 2022. ⟨hal-03469396v2⟩