Heat Engines: Thermodynamics in Theory and Practice

Professor Sandfort's history of the invention and perfection of the steam engine and the early theoretical research of Carnot, Joule, Clausius, Thompson and others is an often amusing and always fascinating story. But the main purpose of his book is to give the reader at least an elementary understanding of the first and second laws of thermodynamics, the significance of temperature, and the principle of the reversible heat engine--the theoretical foundations upon which our technological age has grown.