Thermodynamics of Irreversible Processes

Abstract

Long before there was a thermodynamic theory of irreversible processes, there were phenomenological equations, i.e. equations governing the fluxes of momentum, energy and partial masses. They were read off from the observed phenomena of thermal conduction, internal friction and diffusion. Even the appropriate field equation for temperature was formulated correctly, - for special cases - before the first law of thermodynamics was pronounced and accepted. Thus it was that complex problems of heat conduction were being solved routinely in the 19th century before anybody knew what heat was.