Thermodynamics being among the most synthetic theories of physics and the\nmass-energy relation E = mc2 among the most general equations of science, it\nis somewhat surprising that this latter is not explicitly present in the laws of\nthermodynamics. Coupling this observation with the conceptual difficulties\noften felt in learning thermodynamics leads to the idea that both situations\nmay have the same cause. On the basis of these clues, this paper is intended to\nprovide complementary arguments to a hypothesis already presented. It consists\nof showing the existence of an imperfect compatibility between the conventional\nformulations of the first and second laws of thermodynamics and\nsuggesting the need of the mass-energy relation to solving the problem.
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