A reassessment of the Carnot cycle and the concept of entropy

It is argued that the Carnot cycle is a highly inaccurate representation of a steam engine, and that the net work obtained in its operation would be zero. This conclusion is also supported by an elementary mathematical approach, which reexamines the work done in the four individual steps of the cycle. An important consequence of this is that the concept of entropy, originally proposed on the basis of the Carnot theorem, may not be a fundamentally valid thermodynamic quantity. Also, the experimental approach generally adopted in the determination of entropy is questionable, and the importance of increasing randomness in natural processes not universally valid. In fact, a more viable basis, at least vis-à-vis chemical reactions, appears to be the ratio of mass to energy, which is apparently maximized in the case of a spontaneous process.