The document discusses different heat engines and their thermodynamic cycles, including:
- Stirling engines, which use a gas that remains inside the engine during the cycle. Their efficiency can approach that of a Carnot engine.
- Internal combustion engines that operate on the Otto cycle, using combustion to heat the gas rather than a separate heat reservoir. Their theoretical efficiency is lower than the Carnot limit.
- The third law of thermodynamics, which states that the entropy of a perfect crystal at 0K is zero, implying it is impossible to reach absolute zero temperature or 100% efficiency. Entropy is also discussed from statistical and experimental perspectives.
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