As Homer Simpson once famously phrased, “ in this house we obey the laws of thermodynamics ,” but a new and completely ...

For more than a century, thermodynamics has described how heat flows and engines run, while quantum mechanics has ruled the ...

Recently, a team of researchers made headlines for a stunning announcement: a theoretical breakthrough that expanded our understanding of the first law of thermodynamics. But to understand that result ...

As with many branches of physics and engineering, a common point of debate and research is: Under what conditions do the classical laws and theories of physics break down and quantum theories are ...

While investigating the causes of the Three Mile Island accident and advising the EPRI (the Electric Power Research Institute) on their research program for the safety issues involved, it became quite ...

When I began my power industry career years ago (initially in the chemistry lab of a coal-fired power plant), the criticality of proper chemistry control of steam boilers, cooling water systems, and ...

Five different phases of a colloid-polymer mixture can co-exist at the same time, in defiance of the 150-year-old Gibbs phase rule, which states that only three simultaneous phases are possible. The ...

Significant and immediate worldwide carbon dioxide emissions reductions are necessary to avoid the worst effects of global climate change, scientists say. However, a claim has been circulating online ...

A routine lab experiment by a college student has turned into one of the strangest physics stories of the year, hinting that a simple mixture of oil, water, and metal particles might behave in ways ...

(1) PROF. NERNST'S text-book occupies a special position amongst text-books of physical chemistry, written as it is by an author of such eminence as a pioneer and investigator in the science, and of ...

A FEW years ago, I had an idea that may sound a little crazy: I thought I could see a way to build an engine that works harder than the laws of physics allow. You would be within your rights to baulk ...

More than 200 years ago, Count Rumford showed that heat isn’t a mysterious substance but something you can generate endlessly ...