Yakovenko Maksim Petrovich, student, National Technical University of Ukraine “Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute”, Kyiv

Scientific discovery. The fourth law of thermodynamics – law of Maksim Yakovenko 

This scientific discovery concerns the energy laws of the material world.
There are three known laws of thermodynamics. The first law of thermodynamics – the law of conservation and transformation of energy, establishes the relationship between the internal energy of a thermodynamic system, the amount of heat and work.
The second law of thermodynamics is the law of increasing entropy (law of dissipation). It establishes the direction of thermodynamic processes.
The third law of thermodynamics is the Nernst theorem. It defines the change of entropy when the temperature approaches absolute zero.
These three laws are very important, but still do not answer the main thermodynamic question, namely, what is the thermodynamic principle of the existence of material objects themselves. 
This scientific discovery aims to determine on what thermodynamic basis material objects exist and gives an answer to this question. 
In all the diversity of the material world, from the atom to the star systems and distant galaxies, one can notice one very important regularity - everything exists with a minimum of internal energy expenditure. The movement of electrons in an atom, the movement of planets in star systems, the rotation of the Earth around the Sun and the rotation of an artificial satellite around the Earth, the roundness and verticality of tree trunks and the verticality of man-made structures, the sphericity of water drops and the shape of electromagnetic oscillations, the bee colony, the streamlined bodies of dolphins and seagulls, the rhythmic work of the heart, the pulsating watch spring and, probably, the pulsating universe - all these are manifestations of this thermodynamic law, the law of minimum energy expenditure. 
Everything strives to minimize energy expenditure - this is a kind of "minimax" principle, that is, the minimum internal energy expenditure of the system for its existence provides the maximum ability for its existence and development (maximum viability for living cells and organisms). 
This is true even for socio-economic systems and human society as a whole (if we consider society as a thermodynamic system).
Everything that does not comply with this law is destroyed with the time and disappears. This law is universal, it works both in the macrocosm and in the microcosm. 
This law together with the first three laws of thermodynamics answers all existing questions of thermodynamics. Energy does not disappear without a trace, it is only transformed or dissipated to a certain value and at the same time is consumed in the minimum necessary amount for the existence of a material object or process.

The formula of scientific discovery
   All objects of the material world exist and develop according to the principle of minimum internal energy expenditure, everything tends to the minimum energy expenditure.
 ΔE → ΔEmin,
   where ΔE is energy expenditure.