"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 and temperature and their relationship with energy.
Basic concepts: This includes definitions of commonly used terms in thermodynamics such as system, surrounding, energy, work, heat, and state.
Laws of thermodynamics: This covers the four laws of thermodynamics, which describe how energy behaves in physical systems.
State functions: These are thermodynamic properties that depend only on the current state of the system, and not on how it got there.
Energy transfer: This encompasses the different methods by which energy can be exchanged between a system and its surroundings, including work, heat, and radiation.
Thermodynamic cycles: A thermodynamic cycle is a series of thermodynamic processes that return a system to its initial state, with internal energy and other properties restored to their original values.
Phase transitions: This includes the process of changing from one phase of matter to another under specific conditions, such as melting or boiling.
Transport phenomena: This relates to the transfer of mass, energy, and momentum between different regions of a system.
Equations of state: These are mathematical relationships between the state functions of a thermodynamic system, often used to model the behavior of gases.
Statistical mechanics: This involves the study of the behavior of a large number of small particles in a system and how their properties can be predicted using probability distributions.
Quantum mechanics: This branch of physics deals with the behavior of matter and energy at the quantum level, which is important for understanding the properties of high-temperature plasmas.
Magnetic fields: The behavior of plasmas is often influenced by magnetic fields, and a basic understanding of the properties of magnetic fields is critical.
Radiation: Plasmas can also emit and absorb electromagnetic radiation, and understanding the behavior of radiation is important for many applications of plasma physics.
Plasma Kinetics: The study of plasma behavior using statistical methods.
Wave Physics: The study of waves in plasma, such as electromagnetic waves.
Fusion Plasma Physics: The study of plasmas produced in nuclear fusion reactions.
Space Plasma Physics: The study of plasma in the Earth's magnetosphere, the solar wind, and other space environments.
Plasma Diagnostics: The development and application of techniques for measuring the properties of plasma.
Nonlinear Plasma Physics: The study of plasmas using nonlinear equations that describe plasma turbulence, instabilities, and phenomena like non-equilibrium plasmas.
High Energy Density Plasma Physics: The study of plasmas at high energy densities, such as those found in laser-produced plasmas, tokamaks, and z-pinches.
Plasma Modeling & Simulation: The development of computer models and simulations of plasma behavior.
Plasma Processing: The use of plasmas in industrial applications such as surface modification, nanotechnology, and chemical synthesis.
Plasma Astrophysics: The study of the behavior of plasma in astrophysical environments.
"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."