The study of thermodynamical systems has developed into several related branches, each using a different fundamental model as a theoretical or experimental basis, or applying the principles to varying types of systems.
[edit]Classical thermodynamics
Classical thermodynamics is the description of the states (especially equilibrium states) and processes of thermodynamical systems, using macroscopic, empirical properties directly measurable in the laboratory. It is used to model exchanges of energy, work, heat, and matter, based on the laws of thermodynamics. The qualifier classical reflects the fact that it represents the descriptive level in terms of macroscopic empirical parameters that can be measured in the laboratory, that was the first level of understanding in the 19th century. A microscopic interpretation of these concepts was provided by the development of statistical thermodynamics.
[edit]Statistical thermodynamics
Statistical thermodynamics, also called statistical mechanics, emerged with the development of atomic and molecular theories in the second half of the 19th century and early 20th century, supplementing thermodynamics with an interpretation of the microscopic interactions between individual particles or quantum-mechanical states. This field relates the microscopic properties of individual atoms and molecules to the macroscopic, bulk properties of materials that can be observed on the human scale, thereby explaining thermodynamics as a natural result of statistics, classical mechanics, and quantum theory at the microscopic level.
[edit]Chemical thermodynamics
Chemical thermodynamics is the study of the interrelation of energy with chemical reactions and chemical transport and with physical changes of state within the confines of the laws of thermodynamics.
[edit]Treatment of equilibrium
Equilibrium thermodynamics studies transformations of matter and energy in systems as they approach equilibrium. The equilibrium means balance. In a thermodynamic equilibrium state there is no macroscopic flow and no macroscopic change is occurring or can be triggered; within the system, every microscopic process is balanced by its opposite; this is called the principle of detailed balance. A central aim in equilibrium thermodynamics is: given a system in a well-defined initial state, subject to accurately specified constraints, to calculate what the state of the system will be once it has reached equilibrium. A thermodynamic system is said to be homogeneous when all its locally defined intensive variables are spatially invariant. A system in thermodynamic equilibrium is homogeneous unless it is affected by a time-invariant externally imposed field of force, such as gravity, electricity, or magnetism.
Non-equilibrium thermodynamics is a branch of thermodynamics that deals with systems that are not in thermodynamic equilibrium. Most systems found in nature are not in thermodynamic equilibrium; for they are changing or can be triggered to change over time, and are continuously and discontinuously subject to flux of matter and energy to and from other systems. For their thermodynamic study, more general concepts are required for non-equilibrium systems than for equilibrium systems. Non-equilibrium systems can be in stationary states that are not homogeneous even when there is no externally imposed field of force; in this case, the description of the internal state of the system requires a field theory.[29][30][31] Many natural systems still today remain beyond the scope of currently known macroscopic thermodynamic methods.
[edit]Laws of thermodynamics
Thermodynamics is principally based on a set of four laws which are universally valid when applied to systems that fall within the constraints implied by each. In the various theoretical descriptions of thermodynamics these laws may be expressed in seemingly differing forms, but the most prominent formulations are the following:
- Zeroth law of thermodynamics: If two systems are each in thermal equilibrium with a third, they are also in thermal equilibrium with each other.
This statement implies that thermal equilibrium is an equivalence relation on the set of thermodynamic systems under consideration. Systems are said to be in equilibrium if the small, random exchanges between them (eg. Brownian motion) do not lead to a net change in energy. This law is tacitly assumed in every measurement of temperature. Thus, if one seeks to decide if two bodies are at the same temperature, it is not necessary to bring them into contact and measure any changes of their observable properties in time.[32] The law provides an empirical definition of temperature and justification for the construction of practical thermometers.
The zeroth law was not initially recognized as a law, as its basis in thermodynamical equilibrium was implied in the other laws. The first, second, and third laws had been explicitly stated prior and found common acceptance in the physics community. Once the importance of the zeroth law for the definition of temperature was realized, it was impracticable to renumber the other laws, hence it was numbered the zeroth law.
- First law of thermodynamics: The internal energy of an isolated system is constant.
The first law of thermodynamics is an expression of the principle of conservation of energy. It states that energy can be transformed (changed from one form to another), but cannot be created or destroyed.[33]
The first law is usually formulated by saying that the change in the internal energy of a closed thermodynamic system is equal to the difference between the heat supplied to the system and the amount of work done by the system on its surroundings. It is important to note that internal energy is a state of the system (see Thermodynamic state) whereas heat and work modify the state of the system. In other words, a specific internal energy of a system may be achieved by any combination of heat and work; the manner by which a system achieves a specific internal energy is path independent.
- Second law of thermodynamics: Heat cannot spontaneously flow from a colder location to a hotter location.
The second law of thermodynamics is an expression of the universal principle of decay observable in nature. The second law is an observation of the fact that over time, differences in temperature, pressure, and chemical potential tend to even out in a physical system that is isolated from the outside world. Entropy is a measure of how much this process has progressed. The entropy of an isolated system which is not in equilibrium will tend to increase over time, approaching a maximum value at equilibrium.
In classical thermodynamics, the second law is a basic postulate applicable to any system involving heat energy transfer; in statistical thermodynamics, the second law is a consequence of the assumed randomness of molecular chaos. There are many versions of the second law, but they all have the same effect, which is to explain the phenomenon of irreversibility in nature.
- Third law of thermodynamics: As a system approaches absolute zero, all processes cease and the entropy of the system approaches a minimum value.
The third law of thermodynamics is a statistical law of nature regarding entropy and the impossibility of reaching absolute zero of temperature. This law provides an absolute reference point for the determination of entropy. The entropy determined relative to this point is the absolute entropy. Alternate definitions are, "the entropy of all systems and of all states of a system is smallest at absolute zero," or equivalently "it is impossible to reach the absolute zero of temperature by any finite number of processes".
Absolute zero, at which all activity would stop if it were possible to happen, is −273.15 °C (degrees Celsius), or −459.67 °F (degrees Fahrenheit) or 0 K (kelvin).
[edit]System models
An important concept in thermodynamics is the thermodynamic system, a precisely defined region of the universe under study. Everything in the universe except the system is known as the surroundings. A system is separated from the remainder of the universe by a boundarywhich may be notional or not, but which by convention delimits a finite volume. Exchanges ofwork, heat, or matter between the system and the surroundings take place across this boundary.
In practice, the boundary is simply an imaginary dotted line drawn around a volume when there is going to be a change in the internal energy of that volume. Anything that passes across the boundary that effects a change in the internal energy needs to be accounted for in the energy balance equation. The volume can be the region surrounding a single atom resonating energy, such as Max Planck defined in 1900; it can be a body of steam or air in a steam engine, such as Sadi Carnot defined in 1824; it can be the body of a tropical cyclone, such as Kerry Emanuel theorized in 1986 in the field of atmospheric thermodynamics; it could also be just one nuclide (i.e. a system of quarks) as hypothesized in quantum thermodynamics.
Boundaries are of four types: fixed, moveable, real, and imaginary. For example, in an engine, a fixed boundary means the piston is locked at its position; as such, a constant volume process occurs. In that same engine, a moveable boundary allows the piston to move in and out. For closed systems, boundaries are real while for open system boundaries are often imaginary.
Generally, thermodynamics distinguishes three classes of systems, defined in terms of what is allowed to cross their boundaries:
| Type of system | Mass flow | Work | Heat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open |  | | |
| Closed |  | | |
| Isolated | | | |
As time passes in an isolated system, internal differences in the system tend to even out and pressures and temperatures tend to equalize, as do density differences. A system in which all equalizing processes have gone to completion is considered to be in astate of thermodynamic equilibrium.
In thermodynamic equilibrium, a system's properties are, by definition, unchanging in time. Systems in equilibrium are much simpler and easier to understand than systems which are not in equilibrium. Often, when analysing a thermodynamic process, it can be assumed that each intermediate state in the process is at equilibrium. This will also considerably simplify the situation. Thermodynamic processes which develop so slowly as to allow each intermediate step to be an equilibrium state are said to bereversible processes.
[edit]States and processes
There are two fundamental kinds of entity in thermodynamics, states of a system, and processes of a system. This allows two fundamental approaches to thermodynamic reasoning, that in terms of states of a system, and that in terms of cyclic processes of a system.
The approach through states of a system requires a full account of the state of the system as well as a notion of process from one state to another of a system, but may require only a partial account of the state of the surroundings of the system or of other systems.
The notion of a cyclic process does not require a full account of the state of the system, but does require a full account of how the process occasions transfers of matter and energy between the system and its surroundings, which must include at least two heat reservoirs at different temperatures, one hotter than the other. In this approach, the notion of a properly numerical scale of temperature is a presupposition of thermodynamics, not a notion constructed by or derived from it.
[edit]Thermodynamic state variables
When a system is at thermodynamic equilibrium under a given set of conditions of its surroundings, it is said to be in a definitethermodynamic state, which is fully described by its state variables.
Thermodynamic state variables are of two kinds, extensive and intensive.[7][17] Examples of extensive thermodynamic variables are total mass and total volume. Examples of intensive thermodynamic variables are temperature, pressure, and chemical concentration; intensive thermodynamic variables are defined at each spatial point and each instant of time in a system. Physical macroscopic variables can be mechanical or thermal.[17] Temperature is a thermal variable; according to Guggenheim, "the most important conception in thermodynamics is temperature."[7]
If a system is in thermodynamic equilibrium and is not subject to an externally imposed force field, such as gravity, electricity, or magnetism, then (subject to a proviso stated in the following sentence) it is homogeneous, that is say, spatially uniform in all respects.[34] There is a proviso here; a system in thermodynamic equilibrium can be inhomogeneous in the following respect: it can consist of several so-called 'phases', each homogeneous in itself, in immediate contiguity with other phases of the system, but distinguishable by their having various respectively different physical characters; a mixture of different chemical species is considered homogeneous for this purpose if it is physically homogeneous.[35] For example, a vessel can contain a system consisting of water vapour overlying liquid water; then there is a vapour phase and a liquid phase, each homogeneous in itself, but still in thermodynamic equilibrium with the other phase. For the immediately present account, systems with multiple phases are not considered, though for many thermodynamic questions, multiphase systems are important.
In a sense, a homogeneous system can be regarded as spatially zero-dimensional, because it has no spatial variation.
If a system in thermodynamic equilibrium is homogeneous, then its state can be described by a number of intensive variables andextensive variables.[31][36][37]
Intensive variables are defined by the property that if any number of systems, each in its own separate homogeneous thermodynamic equilibrium state, all with the same respective values of all of their intensive variables, regardless of the values of their extensive variables, are laid contiguously with no partition between them, so as to form a new system, then the values of the intensive variables of the new system are the same as those of the separate constituent systems. Such a composite system is in a homogeneous thermodynamic equilibrium. Examples of intensive variables are temperature, chemical concentration, pressure, density of mass, density of internal energy, and, when it can be properly defined, density of entropy.[38]
Extensive variables are defined by the property that if any number of systems, regardless of their possible separate thermodynamic equilibrium or non-equilibrium states or intensive variables, are laid side by side with no partition between them so as to form a new system, then the values of the extensive variables of the new system are the sums of the values of the respective extensive variables of the individual separate constituent systems. Obviously, there is no reason to expect such a composite system to be in in a homogeneous thermodynamic equilibrium. Examples of extensive variables are mass, volume, and internal energy. They depend on the total quantity of mass in the system.[39]
Though, when it can be properly defined, density of entropy is an intensive variable, entropy itself does not fit into this classification of state variables.[40] The reason is that entropy is a property of a system as a whole, and not necessarily related simply to its constituents separately. It is true that for any number of systems each in its own separate homogeneous thermodynamic equilibrium, all with the same values of intensive variables, removal of the partitions between the separate systems results in a composite homogeneous system in thermodynamic equilibrium, with all the values of its intensive variables the same as those of the constituent systems, and it is reservedly or conditionally true that the entropy of such a restrictively defined composite system is the sum of the entropies of the constituent systems. But if the constituent systems do not satisfy these restrictive conditions, the entropy of a composite system cannot be expected to be the sum of the entropies of the constituent systems, because the entropy is a property of the composite system as a whole. Therefore, though under these restrictive reservations, entropy satisfies some requirements for extensivity defined just above, entropy in general does not fit the above definition of an extensive variable.
Being neither an intensive variable nor an extensive variable according to the above definition, entropy is thus a standout variable, because it is a state variable of a system as a whole.[40] This is one reason for distinguishing the study of equilibrium thermodynamics from the study of non-equilibrium thermodynamics.
The physical reason for the existence of extensive variables is the time-invariance of volume in a given inertial reference frame, and the conservation of mass, momentum, angular momentum, and energy. But the standout quantity entropy is never conserved in real physical processes; all real physical processes are irreversible.[41] The motion of planets seems reversible on a short time scale (millions of years), but their motion, according to Newton's laws, is mathematically an example of deterministic chaos. Eventually a planet will suffer an unpredictable collision with an object from its surroundings, outer space in this case, and consequently its future course will be radically unpredictable. Theoretically this can be expressed by saying that every natural process dissipates some information from the predictable part of its activity into the unpredictable part. The predictable part is expressed in the generalized mechanical variables, and the unpredictable part in heat.
There are other state variables which can be regarded as conditionally 'extensive' subject to reservation as above, but not extensive as defined above. Examples are the Gibbs free energy, the Helmholtz free energy, and the enthalpy. Consequently, just because for some systems under particular conditions of their surroundings such state variables are conditionally conjugate to intensive variables, such conjugacy does not make such state variables extensive as defined above. This is another reason for distinguishing the study of equilibrium thermodynamics from the study of non-equilibrium thermodynamics. In another way of thinking, this explains why heat is to be regarded as a quantity that refers to a process and not to a state of a system.
The properties of a system can under some conditions be described by an equation of state which specifies the relationship between state variables.
[edit]Thermodynamic processes
A thermodynamic process is defined by changes of state internal to the system of interest, combined with transfers of matter and energy to and from the surroundings of the system or to and from other systems. A system is demarcated from its surroundings or from other systems by partitions which may more or less separate them, and may move as a piston to change the volume of the system and thus transfer work.
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