In the history of science, the principle of maximum work was a postulate concerning the relationship between chemical reactions, heat evolution, and the potential work produced there from. The principle was developed in approximate form in 1875 by French chemist Marcellin Berthelot, in the field of thermochemistry, and then later in 1876 by American mathematical physicist Willard Gibbs, in the field of thermodynamics, in a more accurate form. Berthelot's version was essentially: "every pure chemical reaction is accompanied by evolution of heat." (and that this yields the maximum amount of work). The effects of irreversibility, however, showed this version to be incorrect. This was rectified, in thermodynamics, by incorporating the concept of entropy.
Read more about Principle Of Maximum Work: Overview, Thermochemistry, Thermodynamics, See Also
Famous quotes containing the words principle of, principle, maximum and/or work:
“The more the specific feelings of being under obligation range themselves under a supreme principle of human dependence the clearer and more fertile will be the realization of the concept, indispensable to all true culture, of service; from the service of God down to the simple social relationship as between employer and employee.”
—Johan Huizinga (1872–1945)
“There is a good principle which created order, light, and man, and an evil principle which created chaos, darkness, and woman.”
—Pythagoras (c. 572–497 B.C.)
“I had a quick grasp of the secret to sanity—it had become the ability to hold the maximum of impossible combinations in one’s mind.”
—Norman Mailer (b. 1923)
“A great world leader is gone. Liberty loving people around the globe are sad tonight. We are strengthened in the thought of President Roosevelt’s work for little people everywhere.”
—Lyndon Baines Johnson (1908–1973)