"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 study of heat, energy transfer, and the relationships between work, internal energy, and enthalpy.
Basic Concepts of Thermodynamics: This topic covers the basic concepts and terminology used in thermodynamics, such as system, surroundings, state variables, energy, and work.
Laws of Thermodynamics: This topic covers the four laws of thermodynamics, which describe the behavior of energy in different systems. The first law is the law of conservation of energy, the second law is the law of increasing entropy, the third law is the law of absolute zero, and the fourth law is the law of maximum entropy.
Properties of Substances: This topic covers the physical properties of substances that are important in thermodynamics, such as pressure, temperature, volume, and density.
Thermodynamic Processes: This topic covers the different types of thermodynamic processes, such as isothermal, isobaric, adiabatic, and isentropic processes.
Equations of State: This topic covers the different equations of state that are used to describe the behavior of substances in thermodynamics, such as the ideal gas law, van der Waals equation, and the Peng-Robinson equation.
Heat and Work: This topic covers the different ways in which energy can be transferred in thermodynamics, such as heat and work. It also covers the different forms of work, such as mechanical, electrical, and chemical work.
Enthalpy and Internal Energy: This topic covers the two thermodynamic properties that are used to describe the energy of a system, enthalpy and internal energy. It also covers the relationship between enthalpy and heat, and between internal energy and work.
Entropy: This topic covers the concept of entropy, which is a measure of the disorder or randomness of a system. It also covers the relationship between entropy and heat, and the second law of thermodynamics.
Gibbs Free Energy: This topic covers the concept of Gibbs free energy, which is a thermodynamic property that describes the change in energy of a system at constant temperature and pressure. It also covers the relationship between Gibbs free energy and the spontaneity of a process.
Phase Equilibria: This topic covers the phase equilibria of pure substances and mixtures, and the thermodynamic conditions under which different phases can coexist. It also covers the different types of phase diagrams, such as vapor-liquid, liquid-liquid, and solid-liquid phase diagrams.
Chemical Thermodynamics: This topic covers the thermodynamics of chemical reactions, and the different thermodynamic parameters that can be used to describe them, such as standard enthalpy of formation, standard entropy, and standard Gibbs free energy.
Electrochemical Thermodynamics: This topic covers the thermodynamics of electrochemical reactions, such as the relationship between Gibbs free energy and the voltage of an electrochemical cell, and the different thermodynamic parameters that can be used to describe them, such as standard electrode potential and standard free energy of reaction.
Statistical Thermodynamics: This topic covers the relationship between the microscopic properties of a system and its macroscopic thermodynamic behavior. It also covers the different statistical ensembles that are used to describe different types of systems, such as the canonical ensemble, grand canonical ensemble, and microcanonical ensemble.
Applications of Thermodynamics: This topic covers the different applications of thermodynamics in various fields, such as thermodynamics of materials, thermodynamics of biological systems, and thermodynamics of renewable energy sources.
"The behavior of these quantities is governed by the four laws of thermodynamics which convey a quantitative description using measurable macroscopic physical quantities."
"The behavior of these quantities may be explained in terms of microscopic constituents by statistical mechanics."
"Thermodynamics applies to a wide variety of topics in science and engineering, especially physical chemistry, biochemistry, chemical engineering, and mechanical engineering, but also in other complex fields such as meteorology."
"Historically, thermodynamics developed out of a desire to increase the efficiency of early steam engines."
"French physicist Sadi Carnot (1824) who believed that engine efficiency was the key that could help France win the Napoleonic Wars."
"Scots-Irish physicist Lord Kelvin was the first to formulate a concise definition of thermodynamics in 1854."
"German physicist and mathematician Rudolf Clausius restated Carnot's principle known as the Carnot cycle and gave the theory of heat a truer 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 introduced the concept of entropy."
"In 1870 he introduced the virial theorem, which applied to heat."
"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."
"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."