Researched
Thermodynamics
Carnot (1824), Joule, Clausius (1850) and Boltzmann explain heat, energy and entropy: why engines have limited efficiency and time has a direction.
Open in the interactive tree →Carnot analyzed the steam engine and showed that efficiency is limited by the temperature difference. Joule demonstrated that heat and work are interchangeable (energy conservation), Clausius formulated the second law (entropy never decreases), and Boltzmann explained it statistically through atoms. These laws apply to engines, refrigerators, stars and black holes alike.
Prerequisites
- Vacuum Pumps & Gas Laws1643-1662Gas laws gave the first quantitative relations between pressure, volume and temperature
- Newtonian Mechanics1687
- Steam Engine1712
Unlocks
- Mechanical Refrigeration1834
- Internal Combustion Engine1876
- Statistical Mechanics1877
- Steam Turbine1884
- Greenhouse effect1896
- Diesel Engine1897
- Planck's Quantum of Action1900
- Geothermal Electricity1904
- Haber-Bosch ammonia synthesis1909
- Superconductivity1911
- Quantum Mechanics1925
- Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs)1930
- Ecology and the ecosystem1935
- Turbojet Engine1937
- Gas Turbine Power Plant1939
- Liquid-fuel rocket (V-2)1942Rocket engines are heat engines; combustion and nozzle design follow thermodynamics
- Numerical weather prediction1950Forecast models solve the thermodynamic energy and gas laws for the atmosphere
- Jet Airliner1952
- Nuclear Power1954
- Black Hole Thermodynamics1974
- Generative Image & Video AI2022Diffusion image models are derived from non-equilibrium thermodynamics (2015)
- Heat Pumps Scale Up2022–2026
- Cement with CO2 Capture2025
- Enhanced Geothermal (EGS)2026
- A theory of turbulenceopen
- CO2-Free Cementopen