The Nature of Motive Force (Hardcover, 2014)

This monograph disentangles the law of motive force, a fundamental law of nature that can be accommodated as an addition to the existing laws of thermodynamics. This unmistakable and remarkable tendency of nature is equally applicable to all other branches of studies. The law of motive force was discovered in 1989 by the author of this book, Professor Pramanick, who reports here various applications of the law in the area ofthermodynamics, heat transfer, fluid mechanics and solid mechanics and shows how, by applying the law of motive force, it is possible to solve analytically century old unsolved problems. This book offers a comprehensive account of the law of motive force and its relation to other laws and principles such as the generalized conservation principle, variational formulation, Fermat s principle, Bejan s constructal law, entropy generation minimization, Bejan s method of intersecting asymptotes and equipartition principle. Furthermore, the author addresses here some interrelated fundamental problems of contemporary interest, especially to thermodynamicists and provides exact solutions to these problems, by combining analytical methods, physical reasoning and the proposed law of motive force. This book is a must-read for both students and researchers in exact as well as non-exact sciences and at the same time, a pleasant learning experience for any novice.

The first chapter proposes the law of motive force and establishes its relation to the other laws and principles such as the generalized conservation principle, variational formulation, Fermat s principle, Bejan s constructal law, entropy generation minimization, Bejan s method of intersecting asymptotes and equipartition principle. The second chapter presents Schmidt s intuitive criterion for fin design by employing the law of motive force alone. The third chapter provides an elegant solution to a classically unsolved fundamental issue of thermal science, the generalization of Pohlhausen s problem of heat transfer from a flat plate, by applying the law of motive force. The fourth chapter is a theoretical excursus of hydraulic jump for the first time deploying the law of motive force. The fifth chapter inculcates the law of motive force to establish the dendritic structure of nature with reference to a thermoelectric device. In the light of law of motive force the sixth and last chapter finally integrates finite-time thermodynamics with Bejan s constructal law.