• DocumentCode
    2598250
  • Title

    Thermodynamics of Failure and Aging

  • Author

    Ruderfer, Martin

  • Author_Institution
    Dimensions, Inc., Hempstead, L.I., N.Y.
  • fYear
    1963
  • fDate
    25-26 Sept. 1963
  • Firstpage
    361
  • Lastpage
    374
  • Abstract
    The purpose of this paper is to present a general theory of aging applicable to any physical structure. No macroscopic structure lasts forever. Humans and animals die, machines deteriorate, components fail and even a rock withers away in time. Nowhere in nature do we find immortality of such structures. Why? We have no general explanation; all our present answers are specific. We state that humans and animals fail from certain biological causes; machines from mechanical causes; components from electrical and thermal causes; rocks from the slow withering of the weather. The underlying reasons why all such structures eventually fail have not been formalized.
  • Keywords
    Aging; Animal structures; Conducting materials; Engine cylinders; Heat engines; Humans; Isothermal processes; Pistons; Reservoirs; Thermodynamics;
  • fLanguage
    English
  • Publisher
    ieee
  • Conference_Titel
    Physics of Failure in Electronics, 1963. Second Annual Symposium on the
  • Conference_Location
    Chicago, IL, USA
  • ISSN
    0097-2088
  • Type

    conf

  • DOI
    10.1109/IRPS.1963.362256
  • Filename
    4207607