New Thermodynamics Starts with Sensible Lost Work

Abstract

The realization that expanding systems lose energy (lost work) remains a foundation of thermodynamics. Such lost work has traditionally been explained in terms of a system’s entropy increase. Both Gay-Lussac’s and Joules’ (1845) free expansion experiments (into a vacuum) prove that increasing entropy does not explain lost work. These experimental results have been largely accepted as examples that show that classical thermodynamics is an imperfect science. This paper will discuss that these experimental results are actually to be expected, since an expanding system near Earth’s surface must do work onto the surrounding atmosphere. The author refers to this as sensible lost work. It allows one to rewrite classical thermodynamics with clarity, and it forms a basis for new thermodynamics—a new scientific understanding that is a superior fit to witnessed realities as opposed to traditionally accepted theory.