Thermodynamics is a branch of physics concerned with heat and temperature and their relation

to energy and work. It definesmacroscopic variables, such as internal energy, entropy, and pressure,
that partly describe a body of matter or radiation. It states that the behavior of those variables is
subject to general constraints, that are common to all materials, not the peculiar properties of
particular materials. These general constraints are expressed in the four laws of thermodynamics.
Thermodynamics describes the bulk behavior of the body, not the microscopic behaviors of the very
large numbers of its microscopic constituents, such as molecules. The basic results of
thermodynamics rely on the existence of idealized states of thermodynamic equilibrium. Its laws are
explained by statistical mechanics, in terms of the microscopic constituents.
Thermodynamics applies to a wide variety of topics in science and engineering, especially physical
chemistry, chemical engineering andmechanical engineering.
Historically, the distinction between heat and temperature was studied in the 1750s by Joseph Black.
Characteristically thermodynamic thinking began in the work of Carnot (1824) who believed that the
efficiency of heat engines was the key that could help France win theNapoleonic Wars.[1] The Irishborn British physicist Lord Kelvin was the first to formulate a concise definition of thermodynamics in
1854:[2]
"Thermo-dynamics is the subject of the relation of heat to forces acting between contiguous parts of
bodies, and the relation of heat to electrical agency."
Initially, thermodynamics, as applied to heat engines, was concerned with the thermal properties of
their 'working materials', such as steam, in an effort to increase the efficiency and power output of
engines. Thermodynamics was later expanded to the study of energy transfers in chemical
processes, such as the investigation, published in 1840, of the heats of chemical
reactions[3] byGermain Hess, which was not originally explicitly concerned with the relation between
energy exchanges by heat and work. From this evolved the study of Chemical thermodynamics and
the role of entropy in chemical reactions.[4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12]
Contents
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1Introduction

2History
o

2.1Etymology
3Branches of description

3.1Classical thermodynamics

3.2Local equilibrium thermodynamics

3.3Generalized or extended thermodynamics

3.4Statistical thermodynamics

4Thermodynamic equilibrium
o

4.1Quasi-static transfers between simple systems are nearly in thermodynamic

equilibrium and are reversible

4.2Natural processes are partly described by tendency towards thermodynamic

equilibrium and are irreversible

5Non-equilibrium thermodynamics

6Laws of thermodynamics

7System models

8States and processes

8.1Account in terms of states of thermodynamic equilibrium

8.1.1Equation of state

8.2Thermodynamic processes between states of thermodynamic equilibrium

8.2.1Dependent and independent variables for a process

8.2.2Changes of state of a system

8.2.3Commonly considered thermodynamic processes

8.3Account in terms of cyclic processes

9Instrumentation

10Conjugate variables

11Potentials

12Axiomatics

13Scope of thermodynamics

14Applied fields

15See also
o

15.1Lists and timelines

15.2Wikibooks

16References

17Cited bibliography

18Further reading

19External links