The universality of the Carnot theorem

It is common in many thermodynamics textbooks to illustrate the Carnot theorem through the use of diverse state equations for gases, paramagnets, and other simple thermodynamic systems. As is well known, the universality of the Carnot efficiency is easily demonstrated in a temperature-entropy diagram, which means that η_C is independent of the working substance. In this paper we remark that the universality of the Carnot theorem goes beyond conventional state equations, and is fulfilled by gas state equations that do not correspond to an ideal gas in the dilution limit, namely V → ∞. Some of these unconventional state equations have certain thermodynamic 'anomalies' that nonetheless do not forbid them from obeying the Carnot theorem. We discuss how this very general behaviour arises from Maxwell relations, which are connected with a geometrical property expressed through preserving area transformations. A rule is proposed to calculate the Maxwell relations associated with a thermodynamic system by using the preserving area relationships. In this way it is possible to calculate the number of possible preserving area mappings by giving the number of possible Jacobian identities between all pairs of thermodynamic variables included in the corresponding Gibbs equation. This paper is intended for undergraduates and specialists in thermodynamics and related areas.