15 Thermodynamics

15.1. The First Law of Thermodynamics • Define the first law of thermodynamics. • Describe how conservation of energy relates to the first law of thermodynamics. • Identify instances of the first law of thermodynamics working in everyday situations, including biological metabolism. • Calculate changes in the internal energy of a system, after accounting for heat transfer and work done. 15.2. The First Law of Thermodynamics and Some Simple Processes • Describe the processes of a simple heat engine. • Explain the differences among the simple thermodynamic processes—isobaric, isochoric, isothermal, and adiabatic. • Calculate total work done in a cyclical thermodynamic process. 15.3. Introduction to the Second Law of Thermodynamics: Heat Engines and Their Efficiency • State the expressions of the second law of thermodynamics. • Calculate the efficiency and carbon dioxide emission of a coal-fired electricity plant, using second law characteristics. • Describe and define the Otto cycle. 15.4. Carnot’s Perfect Heat Engine: The Second Law of Thermodynamics Restated • Identify a Carnot cycle. • Calculate maximum theoretical efficiency of a nuclear reactor. • Explain how dissipative processes affect the ideal Carnot engine. 15.5. Applications of Thermodynamics: Heat Pumps and Refrigerators • Describe the use of heat engines in heat pumps and refrigerators. • Demonstrate how a heat pump works to warm an interior space. • Explain the differences between heat pumps and refrigerators. • Calculate a heat pump’s coefficient of performance. 15.6. Entropy and the Second Law of Thermodynamics: Disorder and the Unavailability of Energy • Define entropy and calculate the increase of entropy in a system with reversible and irreversible processes. • Explain the expected fate of the universe in entropic terms. • Calculate the increasing disorder of a system. 15.7. Statistical Interpretation of Entropy and the Second Law of Thermodynamics: The Underlying Explanation • Identify probabilities in entropy. • Analyze statistical probabilities in entropic systems.