---
title: "Carnot engine explanation"
chunk: 8/8
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnot_engine_explanation"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T04:19:16.023719+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---

Markvart, Tom (2016). "From steam engine to solar cells: can thermodynamics guide the development of future generations of photovoltaics?". WIREs Energy and Environment. 5 (5): 543–569. Bibcode:2016WIREE...5..543M. doi:10.1002/wene.204. Maxwell, J. Clerk (1871). Theory of Heat (1 ed.). London: Longmans Green. Retrieved 30 March 2026. Mendoza, E. (1961). "A sketch for a history of early thermodynamics" (PDF). Physics Today. 14 (2): 32–42. Bibcode:1961PhT....14b..32M. doi:10.1063/1.3057388. Retrieved 15 March 2026. Meyn, Jan-Peter (2024). "A Contemporary View on Carnot's Réflexions". Entropy. 26 (12: 1002): 1002. Bibcode:2024Entrp..26.1002M. doi:10.3390/e26121002. PMC 11675156. PMID 39766632. Norton, John D. (2022). "How analogy helped create the new science of thermodynamics". Synthese. 200 (4) 269: 1–42. doi:10.1007/s11229-022-03708-9. JSTOR 27324886. Nuvolari, Alessandro; Verspagen, Bart (2005). ""Unravelling the duty": Lean's Engine Reporter and Cornish Steam Engineering". Eindhoven Centre for Innovation Studies Working Paper Series. 200514. Retrieved 4 December 2025. Nuvolari, Alessandro (2010). "The theory and practice of steam engineering in Britain and France, 1800-1850". Documents pour l'histoire des techniques [En ligne]. 19: 189–197. doi:10.4000/dht.1439. hdl:11382/305525. Retrieved 5 December 2025. Ortner, Susan (2023). "A review of structural material requirements and choices for nuclear power plant". Frontiers in Nuclear Engineering. 2 (1253974) 1253974: 1–11. doi:10.3389/fnuen.2023.1253974. Perrin, C.E. (1973). "Lavoisier's Table of the Elements: A Reappraisal". Ambix. 20 (2): 95–105. doi:10.1179/amb.1973.20.2.95. Pole, William (1844). A Treatise on the Cornish Pumping Engine. London: John Weale. Retrieved 12 December 2025. Popovic, Marko (2017). "Researchers in an entropy wonderland: A review of the entropy concept". arXiv. arXiv:1711.07326. Raviv, Daniel; Barb, Daniel Ryan (2020). "A Visual and Intuitive Approach to Teaching and Learning the Concept of Thermodynamic Entropy". ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access. American Society for Engineering Education. Scientific American (29 January 1853). "Ericsson's Caloric Engine". Scientific American. pp. 153–5. Retrieved 12 April 2026. Scoltock, James (25 February 2021). "Bosch and Weichai Power boost diesel engine thermal efficiency". London: Institution of Mechanical Engineers. Retrieved 15 February 2026. Shedd, John C. (1899). "A Mechanical Model of the Carnot Engine". The Physical Review. VIII (LXII): 174–180. Retrieved 7 December 2025. Smith, T.I.; Christensen, W.M.; Mountcastle, D.B.; Thompson, J.R. (2015). "Identifying student difficulties with entropy, heat engines, and the Carnot cycle". Physical Review Special Topics—Physics Education Research. 11 (2) 020116. arXiv:1508.04104. Bibcode:2015PRPER..11b0116S. doi:10.1103/PhysRevSTPER.11.020116. Retrieved 5 December 2025. Taylor, C.R. (1980). "Mechanical efficiency of terrestrial locomotion: a useful concept?". In H.Y. Elder; E.R. Trueman (eds.). Aspects of Animal Movement. Cambridge University Press. pp. 235–244. ISBN 0-521-23086-1. Thomson, William, Sir [Lord Kelvin] (1882). Mathematical and Physical Papers. Vol. I. Cambridge University Press. Retrieved 7 April 2026.{{cite book}}:  CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
Thurston, R.H. (1897). "The Work of N.-L. Sadi Carnot". In Thurston, R.H. (ed.). Reflections on the Motive Power of Heat (2nd ed.). New York: John Wiley & Sons. Retrieved 6 December 2025. Tribus, Myron (1959). Thermostatics and Thermodynamics. Vol. 2. Van Nostrand. Truesdell, Clifford Ambrose (1980). The Tragicomical History of Thermodynamics 1822-1854. New York and Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag. ISBN 0-387-90403-4. Tsoukalas, Lefteri H. (2026). Energy Transitions: The AI–Energy Nexus. World Scientific. doi:10.1142/9789819820443_0001. Uffink, Jos (2001). "Bluff your way in the second law of thermodynamics". Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics. 32 (3): 305–394. arXiv:condmat/0005327. Bibcode:2001SHPMP..32..305U. doi:10.1016/S1355-2198(01)00016-8. Wilson, S.S. (1981). "Sadi Carnot". Scientific American. 245 (2): 134–145. Bibcode:1981SciAm.245b.134W. doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0881-134. JSTOR 24964543. Zemansky, Mark W. (1957). Heat and Thermodynamics (4th ed.). McGraw-Hill.

== External links ==
Sadi Carnot Reflections on the Motive-Power of Heat, and on Machines Fitted to Develop that Power, 1824 (Thurston translation)
James Prescott Joule On the Calorific Effects of Magneto-Electricity, and on the Mechanical Value of Heat, 1843
Rudolf Clausius On the Motive Power of Heat, and on the Laws which can be Deduced from it for the Theory of Heat, 1850 (Magie translation)
William Thomson (Lord Kelvin) On the Dynamical Theory of Heat, with numerical results deduced from Mr Joule's Equivalent of a Thermal Unit, and M. Regnault's Observations on Steam, 1851
James Clerk Maxwell On Heat Engines (from his Theory of Heat, 1871)
Joseph Larmor's On the Nature of Heat, as Directly Deducible from the Postulate of Carnot, 1918.  (Carnot's theory deduced without making the erroneous conservation of heat assumption.)