Definition: A thermodynamic engine transfers heat from one system to another system at lower temperature in order to perform work on a third system.

A thermodynamic engine can do work on a system moving it from some given set of entity relationships to some other set of entity relationships.  In order to accomplish this task, certain conditions must be met.  In this section I shall discuss those conditions.

Consider a system that goes from state A to state B releasing a small quantity of energy δE, partly in the form of work (δW) and partly in the form of heat (δQ^h).

Thermodynamic Engine

The heat (δQ^h) from the hot system is partly delivered to the heat (δQ^c) to the cold system and partly transformed into work for delivery to the reversible work source (δW).

Writing this out in the form of an infinitesimal step yields

                 (9.5)

The fraction of heat which can be transformed into work is called the thermodynamic engine efficiency .  Thus

This is a very general result for any memetically stable human relation system.  In order to do work on a relation system (a group, an organization, a society, etc.), i.e.  move it from one set of entity relationships to another, there must exist two other relation systems at different temperatures.  The greater the temperature difference the greater the efficiency of the conversion of heat to work.  The underlying cause is the condition that the total entropy should increase in the process.

Even though the discussion has been on very general terms, the result is a very specific and quantitative formula for the maximum thermodynamic engine efficiency in a reversible process, and less for an irreversible process.  The result holds without regard of the specific processes or specific methods for the conversion of heat to work.

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(C) 2005-2014 Wayne M. Angel.  All rights reserved.