Laws Of Thermodynamics

CONSEQUENCES OF THE LAWS OF THERMODYNAMICS

The laws of thermodynamics are very easy to be understood... for some it's easy to underestimate their impact. They put liabilities on how energy can be used in the universe. It would be hard to emphasize how significant is. The consequences of the laws of thermodynamics touch on almost every aspect of scientific inquiry in some way.

KEY CONCEPTS FOR UNDERSTANDING THE LAWS OF THERMODYNAMICS

To understand the laws of thermodynamics, it's essential to understand some other thermodynamics concepts that relate to them.

• Thermodynamics Overview - an overview of the basic principles of the field of thermodynamics

• Heat Energy - a basic definition of heat energy

• Temperature - a basic definition of temperature

In order to measure a temperature, thermal equilibrium much be reached between the thermometer as a whole, the mercury inside the thermometer, and the substance being measured. This, in turn, results in being able to accurately tell what the temperature of the substance is.

This law was understood without being explicitly stated through much of the history of thermodynamics study, and it was only realized that it was a law in its own right at the beginning of the 20th century. It was British physicist Ralph H. Fowler who first coined the term "zeroeth law," based on a belief that it was more fundamental even than the other laws.

THE FIRST LAW OF THERMODYNAMICS

First Law of Thermodynamics: The change in a system's internal energy is equal to the difference between heat added to the system from its surroundings and work done by the system on its surroundings.

Though this may sound complex, it's really a very simple idea. If you add heat to a system, there are only two things that can be done -- change the internal energy of the system or cause the system to do work (or, of course, some combination of the two). All of the heat energy must go into doing these things.

MATHEMATICAL REPRESENTATION OF THE FIRST

- Scottish physicist William Thompson (Lord Kelvin)

A cyclic transformation whose only final result is to transfer heat from a body at a given temperature to a body at a higher temperature is impossible. - German physicist Rudolf Clausius

All the above formulations of the Second Law of Thermodynamics are equivalent statements of the same fundamental principle.

THE THIRD LAW OF THERMODYNAMICS

The third law of thermodynamics is essentially a statement about the ability to create an absolute temperature scale, for which absolute zero is the point at which the internal energy of a solid is precisely 0.

Various sources show the following three potential formulations of the third law of thermodynamics:

1. It is impossible to reduce any system to absolute zero in a finite series of operations.

2. The entropy of a perfect crystal of an element in its most stable form tends to zero as the temperature approaches absolute zero.

3. As temperature approaches absolute zero, the entropy of a system approaches a