Thermodynamics is a branch of physics that deals with heat, work, and temperature, and their relation to energy, entropy, and the physical properties of matter and radiation. The behavior of these quantities is governed by the four laws of thermodynamics which convey a quantitative description using measurable macroscopic physical quantities, but may be explained in terms of microscopic constituents by statistical mechanics. Thermodynamics applies to a wide variety of topics in science and engineering, especially physical chemistry, biochemistry, chemical engineering and mechanical engineering, but also in other complex fields such as meteorology.
Historically, thermodynamics developed out of a desire to increase the efficiency of early steam engines, particularly through the work of French physicist Sadi Carnot (1824) who believed that engine efficiency was the key that could help France win the Napoleonic Wars.[1] Scots-Irish physicist Lord Kelvin was the first to formulate a concise definition of thermodynamics in 1854[2] which stated, "Thermo-dynamics is the subject of the relation of heat to forces acting between contiguous parts of bodies, and the relation of heat to electrical agency." German physicist and mathematician Rudolf Clausius restated Carnot's principle known as the Carnot cycle and gave to the theory of heat a truer and sounder basis. His most important paper, "On the Moving Force of Heat",[3] published in 1850, first stated the second law of thermodynamics. In 1865 he introduced the concept of entropy. In 1870 he introduced the virial theorem, which applied to heat.[4]
The initial application of thermodynamics to mechanical heat engines was quickly extended to the study of chemical compounds and chemical reactions. Chemical thermodynamics studies the nature of the role of entropy in the process of chemical reactions and has provided the bulk of expansion and knowledge of the field. Other formulations of thermodynamics emerged. Statistical thermodynamics, or statistical mechanics, concerns itself with statistical predictions of the collective motion of particles from their microscopic behavior. In 1909, Constantin Carathéodory presented a purely mathematical approach in an axiomatic formulation, a description often referred to as geometrical thermodynamics.
^Clausius, Rudolf (1850). On the Motive Power of Heat, and on the Laws which can be deduced from it for the Theory of Heat. Poggendorff's Annalen der Physik, LXXIX (Dover Reprint). ISBN 978-0-486-59065-3.
^William Thomson, LL.D. D.C.L., F.R.S. (1882). Mathematical and Physical Papers. Vol. 1. London, Cambridge: C.J. Clay, M.A. & Son, Cambridge University Press. p. 232. Archived from the original on 18 April 2021. Retrieved 2 November 2020.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^Clausius, R. (1867). The Mechanical Theory of Heat – with its Applications to the Steam Engine and to Physical Properties of Bodies. London: John van Voorst. Retrieved 19 June 2012. editions:PwR_Sbkwa8IC. Contains English translations of many of his other works.
^Clausius, RJE (1870). "On a Mechanical Theorem Applicable to Heat". Philosophical Magazine. 4th Series. 40: 122–127.
Thermodynamics is a branch of physics that deals with heat, work, and temperature, and their relation to energy, entropy, and the physical properties of...
The laws of thermodynamics are a set of scientific laws which define a group of physical quantities, such as temperature, energy, and entropy, that characterize...
The term and the concept are used in diverse fields, from classical thermodynamics, where it was first recognized, to the microscopic description of nature...
The first law of thermodynamics is a formulation of the law of conservation of energy in the context of thermodynamic processes. The law distinguishes...
The second law of thermodynamics is a physical law based on universal empirical observation concerning heat and energy interconversions. A simple statement...
closely but not actually reached, as recognized in the third law of thermodynamics. It would be impossible to extract energy as heat from a body at that...
In thermodynamics, heat is the thermal energy transferred between systems due to a temperature difference. In colloquial use, heat sometimes refers to...
Chemical thermodynamics is the study of the interrelation of heat and work with chemical reactions or with physical changes of state within the confines...
The third law of thermodynamics states that the entropy of a closed system at thermodynamic equilibrium approaches a constant value when its temperature...
The zeroth law of thermodynamics is one of the four principal laws of thermodynamics. It provides an independent definition of temperature without reference...
microscopic entities. Sometimes called statistical physics or statistical thermodynamics, its applications include many problems in the fields of physics, biology...
formalized largely by William Thomson (Lord Kelvin) as the field of thermodynamics. Thermodynamics aided the rapid development of explanations of chemical processes...
thermodynamics. Closed systems are often used to limit the factors that can affect the results of a specific problem or experiment. In thermodynamics...
In physics, black hole thermodynamics is the area of study that seeks to reconcile the laws of thermodynamics with the existence of black hole event horizons...
separate from its surroundings that can be studied using the laws of thermodynamics. Thermodynamic systems can be passive and active according to internal...
The history of thermodynamics is a fundamental strand in the history of physics, the history of chemistry, and the history of science in general. Owing...
Biological thermodynamics (Thermodynamics of biological systems) is a science that explains the nature and general laws of thermodynamic processes occurring...
potentials; each potential is a different expression of the others. In thermodynamics, external forces, such as gravity, are counted as contributing to total...
The universe is all of space and time and their contents. It comprises all of existence, any fundamental interaction, physical process and physical constant...
In thermodynamics, the thermodynamic free energy is one of the state functions of a thermodynamic system (the others being internal energy, enthalpy, entropy...
free dictionary. Thermodynamic equilibrium is an axiomatic concept of thermodynamics. It is an internal state of a single thermodynamic system, or a relation...
quantities in thermodynamics, using mathematical notation, are as follows: Many of the definitions below are also used in the thermodynamics of chemical...
Computational thermodynamics is the use of computers to simulate thermodynamic problems specific to materials science, particularly used in the construction...
In colloidal chemistry, the critical micelle concentration (CMC) of a surfactant is one of the parameters in the Gibbs free energy of micellization. The...
Global Information
