Thermodynamics | Laws, Definition, & Equations | Britannica
2024年12月20日 · Thermodynamics is the study of the relations between heat, work, temperature, and energy. The laws of thermodynamics describe how the energy in a system changes and whether the system can perform useful work on its surroundings.
Laws of thermodynamics | Definition, Physics, & Facts | Britannica
2025年1月15日 · Laws of thermodynamics, four relations underlying thermodynamics, the branch of physics concerning heat, work, temperature, and energy and the transfer of such energy. The first and second laws were formally stated in works by German physicist Rudolf Clausius and Scottish physicist William Thomson
Basic concepts and laws of thermodynamics | Britannica
thermodynamics, Study of the relationships among heat, work, temperature, and energy. Any physical system will spontaneously approach an equilibrium that can be described by specifying its properties, such as pressure, temperature, or chemical composition.
What are the laws of thermodynamics? - Encyclopedia Britannica
The laws of thermodynamics, thermodynamics is the study of energy essentially-- and, well, there's four technically. The first is about energy conservation. Energy cannot be created or destroyed.
Ludwig Boltzmann | Statistical mechanics, Thermodynamics, …
In the 1870s Boltzmann published a series of papers in which he showed that the second law of thermodynamics, which concerns energy exchange, could be explained by applying the laws of mechanics and the theory of probability to the motions of the atoms.
second law of thermodynamics - Encyclopedia Britannica
6 天之前 · Second law of thermodynamics, statement describing the amount of useful work that can be done from a process that exchanges or transfers heat. The concept of entropy was introduced as a precise mathematical way of testing whether the second law of thermodynamics is violated by a particular process.
Philosophy of physics - Thermodynamics, Quantum Mechanics, …
Philosophy of physics - Thermodynamics, Quantum Mechanics, Relativity: A concise, powerful, and general account of the time asymmetry of ordinary physical processes was gradually pieced together in the course of the 19th-century development of the science of thermodynamics.
Thermodynamics - Entropy, Heat Death, Laws | Britannica
2024年12月20日 · Thermodynamics - Entropy, Heat Death, Laws: The example of a heat engine illustrates one of the many ways in which the second law of thermodynamics can be applied. One way to generalize the example is to consider the heat engine and its heat reservoir as parts of an isolated (or closed) system—i.e., one that does not exchange heat or work ...
Does the second law of thermodynamics disprove evolution?
Some have contended that the second law of thermodynamics disproves evolution because the law stipulates that entropy always increases, whereas evolution into complex beings constitutes a decrease in entropy. However, evolutionists explain that the second law applies only to systems with no external energy sources.
Rudolf Clausius | Thermodynamics, Heat Transfer, Entropy
2025年1月1日 · Rudolf Clausius (born January 2, 1822, Köslin, Prussia [Poland]—died August 24, 1888, Bonn, Germany) was a German mathematical physicist who formulated the second law of thermodynamics and is credited with making thermodynamics a science.