Entropy and Thermodynamic Temperature in Nonequilibrium Classical Thermodynamics as Immediate Consequences of the Hahn–Banach Theorem: I. Existence

Abstract

The Kelvin–Planck statement of the second law of thermodynamics is a stricture on the nature of heat receipt by any body suffering a cyclic process. It makes no mention of temperature or of entropy. Beginning with a Kelvin–Planck statement of the Second Law, we show that entropy and temperature—in particular, existence of functions that relate the local specific entropy and thermodynamic temperature to the local state in a material body—emerge immediately and simultaneously as consequences of the Hahn–Banach theorem. The existence of such functions of state requires no stipulation that their domains be restricted to equilibrium states. Further properties, including uniqueness, are addressed in a companion paper.