Learning Paths
Each learning path is one chapter: a guided route through a topic, one small course at a time. Pick a class to see its chapters in order.
Chapter 11
Laws of Thermodynamics, Thermodynamic Processes and Specific Heats of Gases, Heat Engines, the Second Law and Entropy, Kinetic Theory of Gases
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.
3 courses
