TABLE OF CONTENTS Thermodynamics is the branch of physics and /or engineering that deals with heat and the dynamics and/or motion of heat. In modem thermodynamics we include not only heat but various forms of energy and their equivalence. Thermodynamics is truly one of the most basic of all engineering sciences because it deals with the relationship of heat, mechanical energy, work and the conversion of one into the other. Thermodynamics consists of three basic laws:
The First Law of Thermodynamics is the basic law of conservation of energy. It states that energy cannot be created nor destroyed but that it can be changed in form. The first law examines only the total energy units at the beginning and the ending of the process and doesn't look at the possibility of the energy form changes.
The Second Law of Thermodynamics states that heat cannot be transferred from a cold body to a hot body without an input of work. It similarly states that heat cannot be converted 100% into work. The bottom line is that an engine must operate between a hot and a cold reservoir. Also indicated, is that energy has different levels of potential to do work, and that energy cannot naturally move from a realm of lower potential to a realm of higher potential.
The Third Law of Thermodynamics states that the entropy of a substance is zero at absolute zero.
The first two laws are the basis of all studies in engineering thermodynamics. Even though...
