"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 energy and its transformations.
Basic Concepts: This includes concepts such as temperature, pressure, energy, entropy, and heat.
Laws of Thermodynamics: The four laws of thermodynamics explain how energy is transferred and transformed between systems and how these transformations affect the system.
Properties of Pure Substances: This topic covers the properties of pure substances such as steam, water, and refrigerants.
The First Law of Thermodynamics: This law states that energy cannot be created or destroyed, only transformed from one form to another.
The Second Law of Thermodynamics: This law states that the entropy of a closed system always increases over time.
Entropy and Enthalpy: These two concepts are used to measure the capacity of a system to do work.
Thermodynamic Cycles: This topic covers various thermodynamic cycles including the Carnot cycle, Rankine cycle, and Brayton cycle.
Heat Transfer: This includes heat transfer through conduction, convection, and radiation.
Fluid Mechanics: This is the study of fluids and their properties including viscosity, density, and pressure.
Combustion: This topic covers the combustion of fuels and its relation to thermodynamics.
Refrigeration and Air Conditioning: This topic includes the principles of refrigeration and air conditioning systems.
Energy Conversion: This includes conversion of energy from one form to another, viz. thermal to mechanical, mechanical to electrical, electrical to thermal, etc.
Power Cycles: This topic covers various power cycles including gas turbines and steam turbines.
Thermodynamics of Materials: This topic covers the thermodynamics of materials including phase transformations, chemical reactions, and solid-state thermodynamics.
Statistical Thermodynamics: This is the study of thermodynamics at the molecular level including the concepts of partition function and the Boltzmann distribution.
Classical Thermodynamics: A branch of thermodynamics that deals with macroscopic systems in thermodynamic equilibrium.
Statistical Thermodynamics: A branch of thermodynamics that deals with statistical aspects of the behavior of large ensembles of particles.
Non-equilibrium Thermodynamics: A branch of thermodynamics that deals with systems that are not in thermodynamic equilibrium.
Quantum Thermodynamics: A branch of thermodynamics that deals with the effects of quantum mechanics on thermodynamic behavior.
Chemical Thermodynamics: A branch of thermodynamics that deals with chemical reactions and the energy changes associated with them.
Electrochemical Thermodynamics: A branch of thermodynamics that deals with the energy changes associated with electrochemical reactions.
Geothermal Thermodynamics: A branch of thermodynamics that deals with the use of geothermal energy for heating and electrical power generation.
Solar Thermodynamics: A branch of thermodynamics that deals with the conversion of solar energy into other forms of energy, such as electricity.
Biothermodynamics: A branch of thermodynamics that deals with the thermodynamic behavior of biological systems.
Black Hole Thermodynamics: A branch of thermodynamics that deals with the thermodynamic behavior of black holes.
"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."