Physics
High School (11–12)
Heat & Thermodynamics › Laws of ThermodynamicsHeat & Thermodynamics › Thermodynamic Processes and Specific Heats of GasesHeat & Thermodynamics › Heat Engines, the Second Law and EntropyHeat & Thermodynamics › Kinetic Theory of GasesChapter 11Thermodynamics
A bicycle pump becomes warm when you use it, a refrigerator cools its inside and warms the kitchen, and no engine turns all the heat of its fuel into work. In this chapter we find how heat and work change the energy of a gas, which is the first law, we follow a gas through the four basic processes on a pressure-volume graph, and we learn why the second law and entropy set a limit on every engine. Python computes the work from the area under a curve, compares isothermal and adiabatic changes and finds the efficiency of the Carnot engine.
Part of Physics · High School (11–12) (chapter 11)
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Heat, Work and the First Law
When you pump a bicycle tyre, the pump becomes warm, and nobody heated it. In this course we define the internal energy of a gas, we separate heat from work, and we find the work as the area under a pressure-volume graph. Then we write the first law of thermodynamics, which is the law of conservation of energy for heat and work.
Specific Heats of Gases and Thermodynamic Processes
A gas has two specific heats, and the one at constant pressure is the larger. A gas that is compressed quickly gets hot, and a gas that is compressed slowly does not. In this course we find Mayer's relation, and we study the isobaric, isochoric, isothermal and adiabatic processes with the heat, work and change of internal energy of each.