Reflections on the Motive Power of Fire

Reflections on the Motive Power of Fire
	Title page of the 1824 French first edition
Author	Sadi Carnot
Original title	Réflexions sur la puissance motrice du feu et sur les machines propres à développer cette puissance
Language	French
Subject	Thermodynamics
Publisher	Bachelier
Publication date	1824
Publication place	Paris, France

Reflections on the Motive Power of Fire and on Machines Fitted to Develop that Power (French: Réflexions sur la puissance motrice du feu et sur les machines propres à développer cette puissance) is a scientific treatise written by the French military engineer Sadi Carnot.^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4]^[5] Published in 1824 in French, the short book (118 pages in the original) sought to advance a rational theory of heat engines. At the time, heat engines had acquired great technological and economic importance, but very little was understood about them from the point of view of physics.

Carnot's Reflections is now widely regarded as a key document in the development of modern thermodynamics, and Carnot himself (who published nothing else during his lifetime) has often been identified as the "father of thermodynamics". The book introduced such concepts as thermodynamic efficiency, reversible processes, the thermodynamic cycle, and Carnot's theorem.

^ Carnot, Sadi (1824). Réflexions sur la puissance motrice du feu et sur les machines propres à développer cette puissance (in French). Paris: Bachelier.
^ Carnot, Sadi (1890). Thurston, Henry (ed.). Reflections on the Motive Power of Heat. Translated by Thurston, Henry. New York: J. Wiley & Sons. OL 14037447M. (full text of 1897 ed.) ( Full text of 1897 edition on Wikisource )
^ Carnot, Sadi (1899). "Reflections on the Motive Power of Heat and on Engines Suitable for Developing this Power". In Magie, William Francis (ed.). The Second Law of Thermodynamics: Memoirs by Carnot, Clausius, and Thomson. Translated by Magie, William Francis. Harper & Brothers. OL 7072574M.
^ Carnot, Sadi; Clapeyron, E.; Clausius, R. (1960). Mendoza, Eric (ed.). Reflections on the Motive Power of Fire – and other Papers on the Second Law of Thermodynamics. New York: Dover Publications. ISBN 978-0-486-44641-7. {{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
^ Carnot, Sadi; Fox, Robert (1986), Reflections on the Motive Power of Fire: a Critical Edition with the Surviving Scientific Manuscripts, Manchester University Press; Lilian Barber Press, New York, ISBN 978-0-936508-16-0

[French1-1] Carnot, Sadi (1824). Réflexions sur la puissance motrice du feu et sur les machines propres à développer cette puissance (in French). Paris: Bachelier.

[English1-2] Carnot, Sadi (1890). Thurston, Henry (ed.). Reflections on the Motive Power of Heat. Translated by Thurston, Henry. New York: J. Wiley & Sons. OL 14037447M. (full text of 1897 ed.) ( Full text of 1897 edition on Wikisource )

[English2-3] Carnot, Sadi (1899). "Reflections on the Motive Power of Heat and on Engines Suitable for Developing this Power". In Magie, William Francis (ed.). The Second Law of Thermodynamics: Memoirs by Carnot, Clausius, and Thomson. Translated by Magie, William Francis. Harper & Brothers. OL 7072574M.

[Clapeyron-4] Carnot, Sadi; Clapeyron, E.; Clausius, R. (1960). Mendoza, Eric (ed.). Reflections on the Motive Power of Fire – and other Papers on the Second Law of Thermodynamics. New York: Dover Publications. ISBN 978-0-486-44641-7. {{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)

[5] Carnot, Sadi; Fox, Robert (1986), Reflections on the Motive Power of Fire: a Critical Edition with the Surviving Scientific Manuscripts, Manchester University Press; Lilian Barber Press, New York, ISBN 978-0-936508-16-0

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