thermodynamics
Sign in to saveThermodynamics 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 various topics in science and engineering, especially physical chemistry, biochemistry, chemical engineering, and mechanical engineering, as well
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Thermodynamics is the branch of physics that studies how heat, work, and temperature relate to energy and matter, governed by four fundamental laws that describe how these quantities behave. It matters because it applies across science and engineering—from chemistry and biochemistry to designing engines and industrial processes—helping us understand and predict how energy transforms in physical systems.
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Article
27 sectionsContents
- Introduction
- History
- Etymology
- Branches of thermodynamics
- Classical thermodynamics
- Statistical mechanics
- Chemical thermodynamics
- Equilibrium thermodynamics
- Non-equilibrium thermodynamics
- Laws of thermodynamics
- Zeroth law
- First law
- Second law
- Third law
- System models
- States and processes
- Instrumentation
- Conjugate variables
- Potentials
- Axiomatic thermodynamics
- Applied fields
- See also
- Lists and timelines
- Notes
- References
- Further reading
- External links
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 various topics in science and engineering, especially physical chemistry, biochemistry, chemical engineering, and mechanical engineering, as well as 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). Scots-Irish physicist Lord Kelvin was the first to formulate a concise definition of thermodynamics in 1854 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 the theory of heat a more accurate and sounder basis. His most important paper, "On the Moving Force of Heat", published in 1850, first stated the second law of thermodynamics. In 1865 he named the concept of entropy. In 1870 he introduced the virial theorem, which applied to heat.