摘要
Thermodynamics being among the most synthetic theories of physics and the mass-energy relation E = mc2 among the most general equations of science, it is somewhat surprising that this latter is not explicitly present in the laws of thermodynamics. Coupling this observation with the conceptual difficulties often felt in learning thermodynamics leads to the idea that both situations may have the same cause. On the basis of these clues, this paper is intended to provide complementary arguments to a hypothesis already presented. It consists of showing the existence of an imperfect compatibility between the conventional formulations of the first and second laws of thermodynamics and suggesting the need of the mass-energy relation to solving the problem.
Thermodynamics being among the most synthetic theories of physics and the mass-energy relation E = mc2 among the most general equations of science, it is somewhat surprising that this latter is not explicitly present in the laws of thermodynamics. Coupling this observation with the conceptual difficulties often felt in learning thermodynamics leads to the idea that both situations may have the same cause. On the basis of these clues, this paper is intended to provide complementary arguments to a hypothesis already presented. It consists of showing the existence of an imperfect compatibility between the conventional formulations of the first and second laws of thermodynamics and suggesting the need of the mass-energy relation to solving the problem.
