= Z. S. Spakovszky
{c}
An engineering educator whose joint course notes use <thermodynamics> to analyze energy conversion. Their treatment of a moving piston distinguishes the gas pressure from the external pressure that determines work on the surroundings. The two can be equated only under suitable mechanical conditions, preventing a misleading use of equilibrium formulas during rapid or freely expanding processes.<Thermodynamics and Propulsion>[§1.3.3: external pressure, quasistatic limit and free expansion]{ref}
Back to article page
