arXiv subjects

Milivoje M. Kostic

Publications and source records attributed to Milivoje M. Kostic.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2025

2024 'Key Reflections' on the 1824 Sadi Carnot's 'Reflexions' and 200 Year Legacy

This author is not a philosopher nor historian of science, but an engineering thermodynamicist. In that regard and in addition to various philosophical "why & how" treatises and existing historical analyses, the physical and logical "what it is" reflections, as sequential Key Points, where a key Sadi Carnot's reasoning infers the next one, along with novel contributions and original generalizations, are presented. We need to keep in mind that in Sadi Carnot's time (early 1800s) the steam engines were inefficient (below 5%, so the heat in and out were comparable within experimental uncertainty, as if caloric were conserved), the conservation of caloric flourished (might be a fortunate misconception leading to the critical analogy with the waterwheel), and many critical thermal-concepts, including the conservation of energy (The First Law) were not even established. Since Clausius and Kelvin earned to be "Fathers of thermodynamics," then Sadi Carnot was 'the ingenious' "Forefather of thermodynamics-to-become".

physics.gen-ph↗

arXiv2023

Reasoning and Logical-Proofs of the Fundamental Laws: 'No Hope' for the Challengers of the Second Law of Thermodynamics

This comprehensive treatise is written for the special occasion of the author's 70th birthday. It presents his lifelong endeavors and reflections with original reasoning and re-interpretations of the most critical and misleading issues in thermodynamics; since now, we have the advantage to look at the historical developments more comprehensively and objectively than the pioneers. Starting from Carnot (grandfather of thermodynamics-to-be) to Kelvin and Clausius (fathers of thermodynamics), and other followers, the most relevant issues are critically examined and put in historical and contemporary perspective. From original reasoning of energy forcing and displacement to logical proofs of the fundamental laws, to ubiquity of thermal motion and heat, and indestructibility of entropy, including the new concept of "thermal roughness" and the inevitability of dissipative irreversibility, to "dissecting Carnot true reversible-equivalency" and critical concept of "Carnot-Clausius heat-work equivalency (CCHWE)" regarding the interchangeability of heat and work, and to demonstrating "no hope" for the "challengers" of the Second Law of thermodynamics, among others, are offered. It is hoped that the novel contributions presented will enhance comprehension and resolve some of the fundamental issues, as well as promote collaboration and future progress.

physics.gen-ph↗

arXiv2020

Maxwell's Demon and its Fallacies Demystified

A demonic being, introduced by Maxwell, to miraculously create thermal non-equilibrium and violate the Second law of thermodynamics, has been among the most intriguing and elusive wishful concepts for over 150 years. Maxwell and his followers focused on 'effortless gating' a molecule at a time, but overlooked simultaneous interference of other chaotic molecules, while the demon exorcists tried to justify impossible processes with misplaced 'compensations' by work of measurements and gate operation, and information storage and memory erasure with entropy generation. The illusive and persistent Maxwell's demon fallacies by its advocates, as well as its exorcists, are scrutinized and resolved here. Based on holistic, phenomenological reasoning, it is deduced here that a Maxwell's demon operation, against natural forces and without due work effort to suppress interference of competing thermal particles while one is selectively gated, is not possible at any scale, since it would be against the physics of the chaotic thermal motion, the latter without consistent molecular directional preference for selective timing to be possible. Maxwell's demon would have miraculous useful effects, but also some catastrophic consequences.

physics.hist-ph↗

arXiv2020

"Heat Flowing from Cold to Hot without External Intervention" Demystified: Thermal-Transformer and Temperature Oscillator

A recent Science Advances paper by Schilling et al, claiming "flow of heat from cold to hot without intervention" with "oscillatory thermal inertia" are fundamentally misplaced and dramatized as miraculous, even though compliance with the Second Law of thermodynamics is acknowledged. There is nothing "magical and beyond the proof-of-concept" as claimed. It could have been achieved by any work generating device, stored by any suitable device (superconductive inductor was beneficial but not essential as claimed), and such stored work used subsequently in any refrigeration device to sub-cool the body. Cooling devices work by transforming temperature to desired level by work transfer (thermal transformer and temperature oscillator), by non-thermal, adiabatic processes. However, the "direct heat transfer" is always from higher to lower temperature in all refrigeration components, without exception - it is not to be confused by "net-transport of thermal energy by work" from cold to hot ambients. The unjustified claims are critically analyzed and demystified here.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗