Second law considerations on the third law: From Boltzmann and Loschmidt paradox to non equilibrium temperature

The balance of forces and processes between the system and the environment and the processes inside the system are the result of the flows of the quanta. Moreover, the transition between two thermodynamic states is the consequence of absorption or emission of quanta, but, during the transition, the entropy variation due to the irreversibility occurs and it breaks any symmetry of time. Consequently, the irreversibility is the result of a transition, a process, an interaction between the system and its environment. This interaction results completely time-irreversible for any real process because of irreversibility. As a consequence, a proof of the third law is obtained proving that the zero temperature state can be achieved only for an infinite work lost for dissipation or in an infinite time. The fundamental role of time both in equilibrium and in non equilibrium analysis is pointed out. Moreover, the non equilibrium temperature is related to the entropy generation and its fluctuation rate; indeed, non-stationary temperature means that the system has not yet attained free energy minimum state, i.e., the maximum entropy state; the consequence is that the zero temperature state can be achieved only for an infinite work lost for dissipation or in an infinite time. In engineering thermodynamics the efficiency is always obtained without any consideration on time, while, here, just the time is introduced as a fundamental quantity of the analysis of non equilibrium states. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.