Carnot: heat-engine cycles and limits of ideal performance

What changed

Studies heat engines through cyclic processes and reversible reasoning, relating ideal motive power to hot and cold conditions rather than the working substance.

Scientific scope

Carnot's 1824 ideal heat-engine reasoning and limits of performance.

Evidence

Original sources and institutional historical accounts support the stated contribution. The reading boundary is recorded at each source; this assessment is not an independent scientific verification.

Contributors

• Sadi Carnot · SCIENCE: Named source contributor to this scoped work; individual labor shares are not measured.

• Carnot, Réflexions sur la puissance motrice du feu (1824), Université de Liège original edition
• Carnot, Réflexions sur la puissance motrice du feu, transcription of the 1824 original

Provisional WRS assessment, edition 2026-10-16.1. Independent expert calibration is pending. This grade does not certify correctness or assign ownership.

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