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Carnot Cycle

Physical Sciences

The Carnot cycle is an idealized four-step thermodynamic cycle, two isothermal processes and two adiabatic processes, describing a heat engine running between a hot and a cold reservoir at the maximum efficiency thermodynamically possible for any engine working between those two temperatures. No real engine can exceed it, and it remains the theoretical benchmark against which every heat engine's efficiency is measured.

Facts
Proposed Year
1824 1
Proposed By
Sadi Carnot, in his 1824 memoir Reflections on the Motive Power of Fire. 1
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Source Carnot Cycle (Britannica)

Proposed By

Source Sadi Carnot (Britannica)

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Source Sadi Carnot (Britannica)
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Sources
1. Sadi Carnot (Britannica)
Encyclopaedia BritannicaStudied In: ThermodynamicsView the Source
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