Kelvin's statement of the second law of thermodynamics

Kelvin's statement of the second law of thermodynamics

[′kel·vənz ′stāt·mənt əvthə ′sek·ənd ‚lȯ əv ‚thər·mō·dī′nam·iks]

(thermodynamics)

The statement that it is not possible that, at the end of a cycle of changes, heat has been extracted from a reservoir and an equal amount of work has been produced without producing some other effect.

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.