The basic general laws of thermal science are presented and discussed for the application to finite control volume analyses. These are conservation laws for mass, momentum, and energy and a balance law for entropy. Applications to fixed mass systems and to steady flow devices are shown together with the additional special laws governing the behavior of pure substances as equations of state. Further auxiliary laws are indicated as necessary information from the fields of fluid mechanics and heat transfer. Reversible and irreversible processes are discussed, and limitations imposed by the general laws on processes and device behavior are shown. Special attention is given to the possible work that can be extracted from a proposed system or process as the theoretical limit used as a reference for actual systems. The general theory is used to present an ideal heat engine exemplified by a Carnot cycle and relate that to actual heat engines and their efficiencies.
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