The second law of thermodynamics imposes what limit on the efficiency of a heat engine? A. The energy a heat engine must deposit in a cold reservoir is greater than or equal to the energy it extracts from a hot reservoir.
B. The energy a heat engine must deposit in a cold reservoir is greater than or equal to the energy extracted as useful work.
C. A heat engine must deposit some energy in a cold reservoir.

C. A heat engine must deposit some energy in a cold reservoir.

Therefore, option C is correct.

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C. A heat engine must deposit some energy in a cold reservoir.

Explanation:

The second law of thermodynamics says that "It is impossible to extract an amount of heat Q from a hot reservoir and use it all to do work W. Some amount of heat q must be exhausted to a cold reservoir."

This means that if we extract an amount of heat Q from the hot reservoir, the work W can never be exactly equal to Q, then there is a surplus of heat q that must be deposited in a cold reservoir.

Then we have the equation:

Q = W + q

From this we can conclude that the correct option is:

C. A heat engine must deposit some energy in a cold reservoir.

There will be always some energy that is not transformed into work, and is deposited in a cold reservoir.