A thermoelectric experiment in support of the second law

Abstract

An experiment with a semiconductor thermoelectric device is described supporting the second law of thermodynamics. The device can be treated as an ideal heat engine or an ideal heat pump if reversible processes only are taken into account. The efficiency of the former and the coefficient of performance of the latter can be measured for various temperatures of the hot and the cold reservoir and compared with values derived from the second law. Measured and theoretical values agree within about 2%. Parts of the experiment are done in an undergraduate laboratory.