30 June 2025 to 4 July 2025
Leiden University, Gorlaeus building
Europe/Amsterdam timezone
The call for papers will be out in August. Please already prepare your paper.

Carnot’s Waterfall and the Notions of Power and Energy

1 Jul 2025, 16:10
20m
CM1.26 (Gorlaeus building)

CM1.26

Gorlaeus building

Einsteinweg 55 2333 CC Leiden
Oral presentation Thermodynamics & Energy (THERMO) Parallel oral presentations THERMO

Speaker

Hans Ulrich Fuchs

Description

We accept the idea of power of a Force of Nature as it arises from Sadi Carnot’s Waterfall Analogy. We show in what sense power is experientially and conceptually primary, and how it can be used for motivating the energy principle (rather than taking power as derived from the concept of energy). We use a macroscopic steady-state model of irreversible thermal engines for demonstrating that Carnot’s notion of power cannot be derived from the concept of energy.

Education level All ages
Physics topic Thermodynamics and Energy
Research focus Innovative instructional strategies and pathways
Research method Other
Organizing preference criteria Physics topic

Authors

Federico Corni (Free University of Bozen-Bolzano) Hans Ulrich Fuchs

Presentation materials