Reflections on the motive power of heat

Note 44 — IV.[34] CARNOT’S THEORY OF THE MOTIVE POWER OF HEAT.[35] WITH NUMERICAL RESULTS DEDUCED FROM REGNAULT’S EXPERIMENTS ON STEAM.[36]

Robert Henry Thurston translation

[Note of Nov. 5, 1881. Maxwell has simplified the correction by beginning the cycle with Carnot’s second operation, and completing it through his third, fourth, and first operations, with his third operation nearly as follows:

let the piston be pushed down to any position E₃F₃;

then Carnot’s fourth operation altered to the following:

let the piston be pushed down from E₃F₃ until the temperature reaches its primitive value S;

and lastly, Carnot’s first operation altered to the following:

let the piston rise to its primitive position.]

Return to IV.[34] CARNOT’S THEORY OF THE MOTIVE POWER OF HEAT.[35] WITH NUMERICAL RESULTS DEDUCED FROM REGNAULT’S EXPERIMENTS ON STEAM.[36]