Thermodynamics: What is Thermodynamics, Laws of Thermodynamics (For CBSE, ICSE, IAS, NET, NRA 2022)
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What is Thermodynamics?
- Thermodynamics is concerned with the relationship between other forms of energy and heat. It explains how thermal energy is converted from other forms of energy.
- Thermodynamics is a branch of physics that deals with heat, work, and temperature, and their relation to energy, radiation, and physical properties of matter.
- The energy coming from heat is termed Thermal energy.
- 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.
- When the tiny particles within an object move, they generate heat, more amount of heat is generated, when these particles move at a faster pace.
- Thermodynamics applies to a wide variety of topics in science and engineering, especially physical chemistry, chemical engineering and mechanical engineering, but also in other complex fields such as meteorology.
Laws of Thermodynamics
- The fundamental principles of thermodynamics were originally expressed in three laws.
- It was determined that a more fundamental law had been neglected, apparently because it had seemed so obvious that it did not need to be stated explicitly.
- Laws of thermodynamics define the fundamental physical quantities like energy, temperature, and entropy that characterize thermodynamic systems at thermal equilibrium. The four laws of thermodynamics are:
- Zeroth Law: It states that when two systems are in thermal equilibrium with the third system which is separate, the whole system together is said to be in equilibrium with one another.
- If two bodies are in thermal equilibrium with some third body, then they are also in equilibrium with each other.
- This establishes temperature as a fundamental and measurable property of matter.
- First Law: It states the law of conservation of energy when applied to a system in which the energy transfer occurs from or towards the system (with the help of heat and work) .
- This states that heat is a form of energy and is therefore subject to the principle of conservation.
- It represents the relation between the work done by the system, heat supplied to the system and the change in the internal energy of the system.
- Second Law: heat energy cannot be transferred from a body at a lower temperature to a body at a higher temperature without the addition of energy.
- It states that it is not possible to find a system, where the absorption of heat from the reservoir is the complete conversion of heat into work.
- Third Law: This law states that at an absolute zero temperature, the system posses minimum energy.
- Entropy is sometimes called “waste energy,” i.e.. , energy that is unable to do work, and since there is no heat energy whatsoever at absolute zero, there can be no waste energy.
- It is also a measure of the disorder in a system, and while a perfect crystal is by definition perfectly ordered, any positive value of temperature means there is motion within the crystal, which causes disorder.
- For these reasons, there can be no physical system with lower entropy, so entropy always has a positive value.
Enthalpy
- In a thermodynamic setup, enthalpy is the measurement of energy.
- Quantity of enthalpy equals the total content of the heat of a system, equivalent to the system՚s internal energy plus the product of volume and pressure.
- So, H (the enthalpy) , equals the sum of E (the internal energy) , and P (the product of the pressure) , and V (volume) of the system.
- H = E + PV
Entropy
- It՚s value depends on the physical state or condition of a system.
- It is a thermodynamic function that is utilized to measure the disorder or randomness of a system.
- For instance, the entropy of a solid, where particle movement is restricted, is less than the entropy of gas, wherein the particles occupy the container.