On the Deduction of the Carath\'eodory's Axiom of the Second Law of Thermodynamics from the Clausius and Kelvin Principles

TL;DR

This paper explains how Carathéodory's axiom of the second law of thermodynamics can be derived from the Clausius and Kelvin principles, aiming to enhance understanding and teaching of thermodynamics.

Contribution

It provides a novel, didactic derivation of Carathéodory's axiom from classical thermodynamic principles, promoting its teaching at undergraduate level.

Findings

Derived Carathéodory's axiom from Clausius and Kelvin principles

Clarified the formalism's mathematical content and entropy concepts

Proposed a didactic approach for teaching thermodynamics

Abstract

Carath\'eodory's formalism for classical thermodynamics is a rich alternative approach to this theory, although unpopular with students and physics professors. This approach dispenses with the content of thermal machines for the presentation of the second law of thermodynamics. In this paper, we discuss Carath\'eodory's formalism historically, and show how Carath\'eodory's axiom of the second law of thermodynamics is derived, didactically, from the Clausius principle and the Kelvin principle. In addition, also providing an objective character for this paper, in the sense of seeking to popularize the teaching of Carath\'eodory's formalism in disciplines of classical thermodynamics at undergraduate level, we guide the reader to obtain the entropy and mathematical content of the second law of thermodynamics through this formalism. Finally, considering the wide reviewed literature, the proof we gave for deducing the Carath\'eodory's axiom of the second law of thermodynamics from the Clausius principle is new.