Second law of thermodynamics overcomes the limitations of first law of thermodynamics. First law of thermodynamics does not tell how much of heat is changed into work. Second law of thermodynamics shows that the total heat supplied to a system cannot be transferred solely into the work using single reservoir, i.e., some part of heat must be rejected to sink. It also shows the direction of the energy transfer, i.e., heat cannot be transferred from lower temperature reservoir to higher temperature reservoir without external work done on the system.
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