A heat engine that would take in 1000 J of heat from a reservoir at 500 K and exhaust 500 J to a reservoir at 300 K, converting the other 500 J of heat to work, is

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The efficiency of the engine would be 50%, which is greater than the maximum efficiency allowed by the Carnot cycle for these temperatures. The Carnot efficiency is 1 - (300/500) = 0.4 or 40%, so the engine described is not thermodynamically possible.

A Heat Engine That Would Take in 1000 J of Heat