Thermdynamics

Thermodynamics 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 plays a role in a wide variety of topics in science and engineering.
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.
Introduction
A description of any thermodynamic system employs the four laws of
thermodynamics that form an axiomatic basis. The first law specifies that energy can be
transferred between physical systems as heat, as work, and with transfer of matter.
[5]
The second law defines the existence of a quantity called entropy, that describes the
direction, thermodynamically, that a system can evolve and quantifies the state of order
of a system and that can be used to quantify the useful work that can be extracted from
the system.[6]
In thermodynamics, interactions between large ensembles of objects are studied and

categorized. Central to this are the concepts of the thermodynamic system and
its surroundings. A system is composed of particles, whose average motions define its
properties, and those properties are in turn related to one another through equations of
state. Properties can be combined to express internal energy and thermodynamic
potentials, which are useful for determining conditions for equilibrium and spontaneous
processes.
With these tools, thermodynamics can be used to describe how systems respond to
changes in their environment. This can be applied to a wide variety of topics
in science and engineering, such as engines, phase transitions, chemical
reactions, transport phenomena, and even black holes. The results of thermodynamics
are essential for other fields of physics and for chemistry, chemical
engineering, corrosion engineering, aerospace engineering, mechanical
engineering, cell biology, biomedical engineering, materials science, and economics, to
name a few.[7][8]
This article is focused mainly on classical thermodynamics which primarily studies

systems in thermodynamic equilibrium. Non-equilibrium thermodynamics is often
treated as an extension of the classical treatment, but statistical mechanics has brought
many advances to that field.

Thermdynamics

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Thermodynamics deals with heat, work, and temperature, and their relation

Historically, thermodynamics developed out of a desire to increase the efficiency of

The initial application of thermodynamics to mechanical heat engines was quickly

In thermodynamics, interactions between large ensembles of objects are studied and

This article is focused mainly on classical thermodynamics which primarily studies

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