William Thomson (Lord Kelvin)

2020 ◽  
pp. 386-421
Author(s):  
Robert T. Hanlon
Keyword(s):  
Energy Dissipation ◽  
Heat Engine ◽  
Conserved Quantity ◽  
Rational Approach ◽  
Hermann Von Helmholtz ◽  
William Thomson ◽  
James Thomson ◽  
Lord Kelvin ◽  
Caloric Theory

Being raised on the caloric theory in which heat is a conserved quantity, Thomson faced challenges in accepting Clausius’ analysis of Carnot’s heat engine. Once he finally overcame these challenges, helped by collaborating with his brother James, Thomson accepted and then furthered Clausius’ work by proposing a different perspective of Clausius’ 2nd Principle and the 2nd Law of Tthermodynamics: energy dissipation. This chapter concludes with the role Hermann von Helmholtz played in bringing a rational approach to a thermodynamic science based on cause–effect.

Sadi Carnot

2020 ◽  
pp. 329-367
Author(s):  
Robert T. Hanlon
Keyword(s):  
Thermal Efficiency ◽  
Heat Engine ◽  
Conserved Quantity ◽  
Closed Cycle ◽  
Maximum Work ◽  
Caloric Theory

Carnot sought to better understand the performance of the Cornish engine for the benefit of France. His ground-breaking analysis involved new theories on thermal efficiency, maximum work, and closed-cycle operation. Carnot proposed an ideal heat engine that achieved the best possible efficiency, regardless (surprisingly) of the nature of the working substance. Unfortunately, embedded deep inside Carnot’s powerful analysis was a single major flawed assumption: the caloric theory of heat in which heat is treated as a conserved quantity.

scholarly journals The formation of ice and the grained structure of glaciers

1905 ◽  
Vol 76 (512) ◽  
pp. 431-439 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Royal Society ◽  
Precise Meaning ◽  
William Thomson ◽  
James Thomson ◽  
Lord Kelvin

In the following pages I have the honour to lay before the Royal Society the results of a lengthy research on the formation of ice and the grained structure of glaciers, which may serve as a complement to the previous investigations on the same subject published in the ‘Philosophical Transactions’ and ‘Proceedings of the Royal Society by Forbes, Tyndall and Huxley, Tyndall, Faraday, T. Graham, J. F. Main, J. C. McConnel and D. A. Kidd, and elsewhere by Guyot, Agassiz, James Thomson, and Sir William Thomson (now Lord Kelvin), Hermann and Adolf Schlagintweit, Person, Leydolt, Rüdorff, Bertin, Grad and A. Dupré, Moseley, A. Heim, J. T. Bottomley, K. R Koch and Klocke, Forel, Ed. Hagenbach-Bischoff, E. von Drygalski, Mügge, H. Hess and others. 1. It will be convenient at the outset to define the precise meaning with which it is proposed to employ certain words, some of which are in vague popular use, while others are less familiar or new.

scholarly journals Helmholtz and the British scientific elite: From force conservation to energy conservation

2011 ◽  
Vol 66 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-68 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Cahan
Keyword(s):  
Conservation Of Energy ◽  
Hermann Von Helmholtz ◽  
James Clerk Maxwell ◽  
Scientific Elite ◽  
Close Relationship ◽  
William Thomson ◽  
The Law ◽  
James Thomson ◽  
John Tyndall ◽  
Michael Faraday

This article discusses the close relationship that developed during the 1850s and 1860s between Hermann von Helmholtz (1821–94), one of the leading German scientists during the second half of the nineteenth century, and the British scientific elite generally. It focuses especially on the importance of the law of conservation of energy to both sides of that relationship as the law emerged and became popularized. In presenting this Anglo-German relationship, the article relates Helmholtz's friendships or acquaintanceships with numerous members of the British elite, including William Thomson, John Tyndall, Henry Enfield Roscoe, Michael Faraday, Edward Sabine, Henry Bence Jones, George Gabriel Stokes, James Clerk Maxwell, Peter Guthrie Tait, George Biddell Airy and James Thomson. It suggests that the building of these social relationships helped create a sense of trust between Helmholtz and the British elite that, in turn, eased the revision of the understanding of the law of conservation of force into that of energy and consolidated its acceptance, and that laid the personal groundwork for Helmholtz's future promotion of Maxwell's electromagnetic theory in Germany and for Anglo-German agreements in electrical metrology.

James Joule

2020 ◽  
pp. 249-260
Author(s):  
Robert T. Hanlon
Keyword(s):  
Energy Conservation ◽  
Electric Motor ◽  
Conservation Law ◽  
Conserved Quantity ◽  
Heated Water ◽  
Perpetual Motion ◽  
William Thomson ◽  
Lord Kelvin ◽  
Falling Weight ◽  
Energy Conservation Law

Joule’s journey to his energy conservation law began with his unsuccessful evaluation of the electric motor as a means to achieve perpetual motion. A series of subsequent experiments eventually led him to a definitive experiment in which he demonstrated the transformation of work (a falling weight) into heat (a spinning paddle that heated water) occurs at a precise ratio called the mechanical equivalent of heat (MEH). This and other of his experiments proved that heat is not a conserved quantity and that heat and work are simply two forms of a conserved quantity later to be called energy. He shared his findings with William Thomson (Lord Kelvin) who then went on to establish the field of thermodynamics.

Charles Darwin's Manuscript of Pangenesis

1963 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 251-263 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. C. Olby
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary Theory ◽  
Theory Of Evolution ◽  
William Thomson ◽  
Lord Kelvin ◽  
Short Time

Darwin only published one account of his provisional hypothesis of pangenesis, and that is to be found in chapter xxvii of his book The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication, the first edition of which is dated 1868. The absence of any earlier account in Darwin's works has led some to assume that he had recourse to this hypothesis only a short time before the published date of the book containing it, and on the basis of this assumption they have asserted that he produced it as a part of his defence of the theory of evolution against the criticisms made of it by the physicists Sir William Thomson, afterwards Lord Kelvin, and Fleeming Jenkin. But to make such an assertion is to ignore the fact that Darwin had already sent his manuscript of pangenesis to Huxley in the year 1865, two years before Fleeming Jenkin's article appeared and three years before Lord Kelvin openly attacked the evolutionary theory. The discovery of this manuscript of pangenesis has, therefore, some importance, for it should reveal Darwin's conception of pangenesis in 1865.

God and the Uniformity of Nature

2019 ◽  
pp. 97-110
Author(s):  
Matthew Stanley
Keyword(s):  
Natural World ◽  
Fine Tuning ◽  
Late Nineteenth Century ◽  
James Clerk Maxwell ◽  
Modern Physics ◽  
William Thomson ◽  
Alternative Approaches ◽  
Religiously Based ◽  
John Tyndall ◽  
Lord Kelvin

Today the laws of physics are often seen as evidence for a naturalistic worldview. However, historically, physics was usually considered compatible with belief in God. Foundations of physics such as thermodynamics, uniformity of nature, and causality were seen as religiously based by physicists such as James Clerk Maxwell and William Thomson, Lord Kelvin. These were usually interpreted as evidence of design by a creative deity. In the late nineteenth century, John Tyndall and other scientific naturalists made the argument that these foundations were more sympathetic to a non-religious understanding of the natural world. With the success of this approach, twentieth-century religious physicists tended to stress non-material and experiential connections rather than looking for evidence of design. Later parts of that century saw a revival of natural theological arguments in the form of the anthropic principle and the fine-tuning problem. While modern physics is naturalistic, this was not inevitable and there were several alternative approaches common in earlier times.

The Gibbs-Thomson Equation

2020 ◽  
pp. 109-140
Author(s):  
Brian Cantor
Keyword(s):  
Natural Philosophy ◽  
Bulk Material ◽  
Equilibrium Shape ◽  
Surface Adsorption ◽  
Internal Interface ◽  
Cambridge University ◽  
The Third ◽  
The World ◽  
William Thomson ◽  
Lord Kelvin

The external surface of a material has an atomic or molecular structure that is different from the bulk material. So does any internal interface within a material. Because of this, the energy of a material or any grain or particle within it increases with the curvature of its bounding surface, as described by the Gibbs-Thomson equation. This chapter explains how surfaces control the nucleation of new phases during reactions such as solidification and precipitation, the coarsening and growth of particles during heat treatment, the equilibrium shape of crystals, and the surface adsorption and segregation of solutes and impurities. The Gibbs-Thomson was predated by a number of related equations; it is not clear whether it is named after J. J. Thomson or William Thomson (Lord Kelvin); and it was not put into its current usual form until after Gibbs’, Thomson’s and Kelvin’s time. J. J. Thomson was the third Cavendish Professor of Physics at Cambridge University. He discovered the electron, which had a profound impact on the world, notably via Thomas Edison’s invention of the light bulb, and subsequent building of the world’s first electricity distribution network. William Thomson was Professor of Natural Philosophy at Glasgow University. He made major scientific developments, notably in thermodynamics, and he helped build the first trans-Atlantic undersea telegraph. Because of his scientific pre-eminence, the absolute unit of temperature, the degree Kelvin, is named after him.

The patents of William Thomson (Lord Kelvin)

2004 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 311-317 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Trainer
Keyword(s):  
William Thomson ◽  
Lord Kelvin
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