Which limit exists when designing a Carnot heat engine operating between fixed high and low temperature reservoirs?

💡 Explanation

When operating between fixed temperature reservoirs, Carnot engine efficiency is theortically limited through reversible (infinitely slow) processes allowing minimal temperature gradients and zero entropy increase. This infinite time would maximize heat transfer at the highest temperature with no losses and reversible heat rejection at the lowest. Therefore perfectly efficient Carnot engine becomes impossible, rather than achievable as would occur absent ideal conditions like isothermal phase transition.

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