Laws of Thermodynamics
"I don’t mind how much my Ministers talk, so long as they do what I say”
Margaret Thatcher – Observer (1980)
 Alternative statement of the first three laws of Thermodynamics:
As far as energy is concerned, you can’t win, the
best you can do is break even (1st law)
You can only break even at absolute zero (2nd law)
You can’t get to absolute zero (3rd law)
So – in a nutshell – you can’t win !
(Courtesy Rick Marshall, Physics World November 2007)
Laws of Thermodynamics Flanders and Swann
Entropy and Energy
“ I don’t know half of you half as well as I should like and I like less than half of you half
as well as you deserve”
Bilbo Baggins – J. R. R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings
Dr. C. L. Davis
Physics Department
University of Louisville
email: c.l.davis@louisville.edu