Simple Guide To Third Law Of Thermodynamics

The Third Law of Thermodynamics was developed by William Thomson, who was also known as Lord Kelvin.. It means that it is impossible to reach absolute zero temperature (0 Kor −273.15 °C) on Earth because no heat exchange can occur at that temperature.

The third law of thermodynamics (also known as the Kelvin–Planck statement) states that it is impossible to convert heat completely into mechanical work. This law extends and formalizes the idea, implicit in the first two laws of thermodynamics, that it is impossible to create energy out of nothing, and impossible to destroy energy.

The Basic Principle

The third law of thermodynamics deals with entropy, which is a measure of disorder in a system. According to its terminology, it states that there will be an increase in entropy over time, leading to predictable and irreversible degradation in any isolated physical or chemical system. 

In other words, if you leave your coffee cup alone for too long on your desk (i.e., don’t take care of it), it’ll eventually get knocked off by someone (your co-worker) or fall over and make a mess on your desk (increasing disorder). There are no examples of isolated systems with decreasing entropy – things always get worse!

Examples & Applications

The third law means that all processes must increase entropy, no matter how efficient they are (unless temperatures reach absolute zero), and that thermal energy will always flow from hot to cold. 

Therefore, when you put something into your freezer, it cools down over time—not heats up. Likewise, ice cubes don’t warm up when they sit in your drink on a hot day because they also are losing heat due to their surroundings. It also explains why we can have vast differences in temperature on Earth but no natural phenomenon where we see both heat and cold moving towards one another—thermal energy always flows from warm to cool.

The History of the Third Law

The Third Law of Thermodynamics is a universal law that explains why the entropy of an isolated system cannot decrease over time. The law was developed by French physicist and engineer Sadi Carnot, who in 1824 published Reflections on the Motive Power of Fire. 

Carnot’s idea became known as the Second Law of Thermodynamics, but it was German physicist Rudolf Clausius who coined the term entropy in 1865 and realized the connection between its rise and fall in an isolated system. In 1906, American physicist Josiah Willard Gibbs hypothesized that equilibrium between two given states could be reached only when there were no more possible microstates. This theory came to be known as the Third Law of Thermodynamics.

Advantages & Disadvantages

Like most scientific laws, there are advantages and disadvantages to being able to state the third law of thermodynamics. The main advantage is that it allows people to predict (within reason) what can happen in closed systems. It also gives scientists a better understanding of how gases behave. 

The disadvantage is that saying that all systems want to become more disordered is both overly simplistic and not entirely accurate since some will do so more quickly than others. Additionally, you may find yourself disproving things that you thought were true if you don’t pay close attention while using these laws as they are very precise.

Conclusion

The third law of thermodynamics states that as the temperature approaches absolute zero (0 K, −273.15 °C, or −459.67 °F), the temperature of the system approaches a constant minimum (the entropy at 0 K is often taken to be zero). As such, it provides one of the fundamental limits of operation for refrigerators and cryogenics as well as justifies the cost of waste heat radiators in high-performance cars.