Developments in Thermal Science Before the Period of Sadi Carnot

2 Developments in Thermal Science Before the Period of Sadi Carnot 

Since the ancient period, there have been attempts to measure heat. Philo of Byzantium (280 BC-220 BC) mentioned about a heat sensing element. Hero of 

Study of heat transfer gained importance in different fields of science as it was an all encompassing phenomenon. Ideal gas laws were formulated relating to tem-peramre, pressure, and volume of gases by famous scientists. Robert Boyle (1627-1691) provided a law that relates the pressure and volume of a gas. It is stated as follows  

For a confined gas held at a constant temperature, the product of pressure and volume is a constant. 

Suppose a cylinder contains 1 m gas with a piston at the top. If we move down the piston to make the volume of the gas as 0.5 m, its pressure will get doubled, provided the process is performed slowly such that the heat can escape and temperature does not rise. We know that Boyle s law is applicable for an ideal gas only. Robert Boyle is regarded as the father of the modem chemistry. 

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