Ranking Rankine: W. J. M. Rankine (1820–72) and the Making of ‘Engineering Science’ Revisited

Marsden, Ben

doi:10.1177/007327531305100403

Cited by 2 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…For my knowledge of the contributions of Rankine, works by Hutchinson and Marsden were extremely valuable [83][84][85]. These confirmed my own independent conclusion from a desultory reading of Rankine's works, that Rankine, an engineer motivated by the desire to improve the steam engine, had a strong sense of what was needed to develop what we now call thermodynamics, but little of what he produced was unassailably correct.…”

Section: Rankinementioning

confidence: 76%

“…Thomson comments that this follows from the Second Law [72]. In a later publication, he notes that, for Joule's suggested µ = JE/(1 + Et), Equation (99) is equivalent to an earlier result, presumably his (85), for a complex cycle built from individual Carnot cycles [73].…”

Section: Part VI Thermo-electric Currentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Sometimes his physics was correct and sometimes his new terminology stuck, but nearly as often his physics was wrong (his vortex model of an atom [84]) and his terminology did not stick ("metabatic" function, "metabaric" function, "actual energy"). I conclude that, despite his dissemination of useful methods to the engineering community, in terms of rock-solid physics he served more as a cheerleader and encourager for William Thomson (Kelvin) and Clausius, who made the major contributions [83][84][85]. Maxwell could not be persuaded to contribute something for Rankine's obituary [85], and Gibbs gave Clausius and Thomson the credit for creating and developing thermodynamics.…”

Section: Rankinementioning

confidence: 99%

“…I conclude that, despite his dissemination of useful methods to the engineering community, in terms of rock-solid physics he served more as a cheerleader and encourager for William Thomson (Kelvin) and Clausius, who made the major contributions [83][84][85]. Maxwell could not be persuaded to contribute something for Rankine's obituary [85], and Gibbs gave Clausius and Thomson the credit for creating and developing thermodynamics. There is evidence that Rankine was not even thought of highly within the engineering community [85].…”

Section: Rankinementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Maxwell could not be persuaded to contribute something for Rankine's obituary [85], and Gibbs gave Clausius and Thomson the credit for creating and developing thermodynamics. There is evidence that Rankine was not even thought of highly within the engineering community [85]. Likely he spread himself too thin.…”

Section: Rankinementioning

confidence: 99%

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A History of Thermodynamics: The Missing Manual

Saslow

2020

Entropy

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We present a history of thermodynamics. Part 1 discusses definitions, a pre-history of heat and temperature, and steam engine efficiency, which motivated thermodynamics. Part 2 considers in detail three heat conservation-based foundational papers by Carnot, Clapeyron, and Thomson. For a reversible Carnot cycle operating between thermal reservoirs with Celsius temperatures t and t + dt, heat Q from the hot reservoir, and net work W, Clapeyron derived W/Q = dt/C(t), with C(t) material-independent. Thomson used µ = 1/C(t) to define an absolute temperature but, unaware that an additional criterion was needed, he first proposed a logarithmic function of the ideal gas temperature T g . Part 3, following a discussion of conservation of energy, considers in detail a number of energy conservation-based papers by Clausius and Thomson. As noted by Gibbs, in 1850, Clausius established the first modern form of thermodynamics, followed by Thomson's 1851 rephrasing of what he called the Second Law. In 1854, Clausius theoretically established for a simple Carnot cycle the condition Q 1 /T 1 + Q 2 /T 2 = 0. He generalized it to ∑ i Q i /T g,i = 0, and then dQ/T g = 0. This both implied a new thermodynamic state function and, with appropriate integration factor 1/T, the thermodynamic temperature. In 1865, Clausius named this new state function the entropy S.

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Section: Rankinementioning

confidence: 76%

Section: Part VI Thermo-electric Currentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Rankinementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Rankinementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Rankinementioning

confidence: 99%

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A History of Thermodynamics: The Missing Manual

Saslow

2020

Entropy

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Current Bibliography of the History of Science and Its Cultural Influences, 2014

2014

Isis

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JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.. The University of Chicago Press andThe History of Science Society are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Isis.

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Ranking Rankine: W. J. M. Rankine (1820–72) and the Making of ‘Engineering Science’ Revisited

Cited by 2 publications

References 15 publications

A History of Thermodynamics: The Missing Manual

A History of Thermodynamics: The Missing Manual

Current Bibliography of the History of Science and Its Cultural Influences, 2014

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