third law of thermodynamics
E183516
The third law of thermodynamics is a fundamental principle stating that the entropy of a perfect crystal approaches zero as its temperature approaches absolute zero, forming a basis for absolute entropy measurements and low-temperature physics.
All labels observed (3)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| third law of thermodynamics canonical | 3 |
| Nernst heat theorem | 2 |
| Third Law of Thermodynamics | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T1615007 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: third law of thermodynamics Context triple: [Walther Nernst, notableWork, third law of thermodynamics]
-
A.
Sackur–Tetrode equation
The Sackur–Tetrode equation is a fundamental formula in statistical mechanics that gives the absolute entropy of an ideal monatomic gas in terms of its volume, temperature, and particle number.
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B.
Landauer's principle
Landauer's principle is a foundational concept in thermodynamics and information theory stating that erasing one bit of information in a computational process necessarily dissipates a minimum amount of heat, linking information processing to physical entropy.
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C.
Carathéodory’s formulation of the second law of thermodynamics
Carathéodory’s formulation of the second law of thermodynamics is a mathematically rigorous restatement of the second law based on the inaccessibility of certain thermodynamic states, providing a foundation for the concept of entropy without relying on cyclic processes or heat engines.
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D.
Kirchhoff's law of thermal radiation
Kirchhoff's law of thermal radiation is a fundamental principle in thermodynamics stating that, for a body in thermal equilibrium, its emissivity equals its absorptivity at each wavelength.
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E.
Boltzmann constant
The Boltzmann constant is a fundamental physical constant that links temperature to energy at the particle level, playing a central role in statistical mechanics and thermodynamics.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: third law of thermodynamics Target entity description: The third law of thermodynamics is a fundamental principle stating that the entropy of a perfect crystal approaches zero as its temperature approaches absolute zero, forming a basis for absolute entropy measurements and low-temperature physics.
-
A.
Sackur–Tetrode equation
The Sackur–Tetrode equation is a fundamental formula in statistical mechanics that gives the absolute entropy of an ideal monatomic gas in terms of its volume, temperature, and particle number.
-
B.
Landauer's principle
Landauer's principle is a foundational concept in thermodynamics and information theory stating that erasing one bit of information in a computational process necessarily dissipates a minimum amount of heat, linking information processing to physical entropy.
-
C.
Carathéodory’s formulation of the second law of thermodynamics
Carathéodory’s formulation of the second law of thermodynamics is a mathematically rigorous restatement of the second law based on the inaccessibility of certain thermodynamic states, providing a foundation for the concept of entropy without relying on cyclic processes or heat engines.
-
D.
Kirchhoff's law of thermal radiation
Kirchhoff's law of thermal radiation is a fundamental principle in thermodynamics stating that, for a body in thermal equilibrium, its emissivity equals its absorptivity at each wavelength.
-
E.
Boltzmann constant
The Boltzmann constant is a fundamental physical constant that links temperature to energy at the particle level, playing a central role in statistical mechanics and thermodynamics.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (45)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
law of thermodynamics
ⓘ
physical law ⓘ |
| appliesTo | perfect crystal ⓘ |
| assumes |
absence of residual configurational disorder in a perfect crystal
ⓘ
unique ground state for a perfect crystal ⓘ |
| category | fundamental law of nature ⓘ |
| compatibleWith | quantum mechanics ⓘ |
| concernsConcept | absolute zero ⓘ |
| concernsQuantity |
entropy
ⓘ
temperature ⓘ |
| contrastsWith |
first law of thermodynamics
ⓘ
linked to:
First Law of Thermodynamics
second law of thermodynamics ⓘ zeroth law of thermodynamics ⓘ |
| defines | zero point of entropy scale ⓘ |
| domain | equilibrium thermodynamics ⓘ |
| field |
low-temperature physics
ⓘ
statistical mechanics ⓘ thermodynamics ⓘ |
| formulatedBy | Walther Nernst ⓘ |
| formulationDate | early 20th century ⓘ |
| hasConsequence |
entropy change for any isothermal process tends to zero as temperature approaches absolute zero
ⓘ
establishes absolute entropy scale ⓘ heat capacities tend to zero as temperature approaches absolute zero for many systems ⓘ |
| hasInterpretation | entropy measures disorder relative to a perfectly ordered ground state ⓘ |
| hasLimitation |
does not strictly apply to glasses and amorphous solids
ⓘ
does not strictly apply to systems with degenerate ground states ⓘ |
| hasName | third law of thermodynamics ⓘ |
| implies |
entropy of a perfect crystal at 0 K is zero
ⓘ
it is impossible to reach absolute zero in a finite number of steps ⓘ |
| influenced |
development of chemical thermodynamics
ⓘ
standard entropy tables ⓘ |
| mathematicalForm | S → 0 as T → 0 for a perfect crystal ⓘ |
| precedes | development of quantum statistics ⓘ |
| provides | reference point for absolute entropy ⓘ |
| relatedTo |
Nernst heat theorem
ⓘ
linked to:
third law of thermodynamics
Nernst unattainability principle ⓘ |
| statedAs | The entropy of a perfect crystal approaches zero as its temperature approaches absolute zero. ⓘ |
| usedFor |
calculation of absolute entropies
ⓘ
calorimetric entropy measurements ⓘ determination of equilibrium constants at low temperature ⓘ |
| usedIn |
cryogenics
ⓘ
low-temperature thermodynamics ⓘ |
| usedToExplain |
behavior of specific heat at low temperatures
ⓘ
limitations on cooling processes ⓘ |
| validAt | temperatures approaching 0 K ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: third law of thermodynamics Description of subject: The third law of thermodynamics is a fundamental principle stating that the entropy of a perfect crystal approaches zero as its temperature approaches absolute zero, forming a basis for absolute entropy measurements and low-temperature physics.
Referenced by (6)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
linked to: third law of thermodynamics
linked to: third law of thermodynamics
linked to: third law of thermodynamics