law of thermodynamics: Meaning and Definition of

law' of thermodynam'ics

Pronunciation: [key]
  1. any of three principles variously stated in equivalent forms, being the principle that the change of energy of a thermodynamic system is equal to the heat transferred minus the work donethe principle that no cyclic process is possible in which heat is absorbed from a reservoir at a single temperature and converted completely into mechanical workand the principle that it is impossible to reduce the temperature of a system to absolute zero in a finite number of operations
  2. See
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.