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The First Principle of Thermodynamics and the Non-Separability of the Quantities "Work" and "Heat": The adiabatic piston controversy

Rodrigo de Abreu
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Abstract

The impossibility of separating into work and heat the energy transmitted between two subsystems through a movable piston is analyzed in this article. The process here described, although "quasi-static", is not reversible. It is shown that the First Principle, dU=dW+dQ, introduced by Clausius, does not generally allow a physical identification of dW and dQ, although dU=-pdV+TdS is verified along the equilibrium points of each subsystem.

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Rodrigo de Abreu. 2002-05-27. The First Principle of Thermodynamics and the Non-Separability of the Quantities "Work" and "Heat": The adiabatic piston controversy. https://arxiv.org/abs/cond-mat/0205566

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