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Thermodynamics
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Thermodynamicsisabranchofphysicswhichdealswiththeenergyandworkofasystem.Itwasborninthe19th
centuryasscientistswerefirstdiscoveringhowtobuildandoperatesteamengines.Thermodynamicsdealsonlywiththe
largescaleresponseofasystemwhichwecanobserveandmeasureinexperiments.Smallscalegasinteractionsare
describedbythekinetictheoryofgases.Themethodscomplementeachothersomeprinciplesaremoreeasily
understoodintermsofthermodynamicsandsomeprinciplesaremoreeasilyexplainedbykinetictheory.
Therearethreeprincipallawsofthermodynamicswhicharedescribedonseparateslides.Eachlawleadstothedefinition
ofthermodynamicpropertieswhichhelpustounderstandandpredicttheoperationofaphysicalsystem.Wewillpresent
somesimpleexamplesoftheselawsandpropertiesforavarietyofphysicalsystems,althoughwearemostinterestedin
thermodynamicsinthestudyofpropulsionsystemsandhighspeedflows.Fortunately,manyoftheclassicalexamplesof
thermodynamicsinvolvegasdynamics.Unfortunately,thenumberingsystemforthethreelawsofthermodynamicsisabit
confusing.Webeginwiththezerothlaw.
Thezerothlawofthermodynamicsinvolvessomesimpledefinitionsofthermodynamicequilibrium.Thermodynamic
equilibriumleadstothelargescaledefinitionoftemperature,asopposedtothesmallscaledefinitionrelatedtothekinetic
energyofthemolecules.Thefirstlawofthermodynamicsrelatesthevariousformsofkineticandpotentialenergyina
systemtotheworkwhichasystemcanperformandtothetransferofheat.Thislawissometimestakenasthedefinition
ofinternalenergy,andintroducesanadditionalstatevariable,enthalpy.Thefirstlawofthermodynamicsallowsformany
possiblestatesofasystemtoexist.Butexperienceindicatesthatonlycertainstatesoccur.Thisleadstothesecondlaw
ofthermodynamicsandthedefinitionofanotherstatevariablecalledentropy.Thesecondlawstipulatesthatthetotal
entropyofasystemplusitsenvironmentcannotdecreaseitcanremainconstantforareversibleprocessbutmust
alwaysincreaseforanirreversibleprocess.
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Thermodynamics
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Editor:NancyHall
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LastUpdated:May052015
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