Thermodynamics

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Thermodynamics->> FIRST LAW

The first law of thermodynamics gives a precise definition of heat, another commonly used concept.

When an object is brought into contact with a relatively colder object, a process takes place that brings about an equalization of temperatures of the two objects. To explain this phenomenon, 18th-century scientists hypothesized that a substance more abundant at higher temperature flowed toward the region at a lower temperature. This hypothetical substance, called “caloric,” was thought to be a fluid capable of moving through material media. The first law of thermodynamics instead identifies caloric, or heat, as a form of energy. It can be converted into mechanical work, and it can be stored, but is not a material substance. Heat, measured originally in terms of a unit called the calorie, and work and energy, measured in ergs, were shown by experiment to be totally equivalent. One calorie is equivalent to 4.186 × 107 ergs, or 4.186 joules.

The first law, then, is a law of energy conservation. It states that, because energy cannot be created or destroyed—setting aside the later ramifications of the equivalence of mass and energy (see Nuclear Energy)—the amount of heat transferred into a system plus the amount of work done on the system must result in a corresponding increase of internal energy in the system. Heat and work are mechanisms by which systems exchange energy with one another.

In any machine some amount of energy is converted into work; therefore, no machine can exist in which no energy is converted into work. Such a hypothetical machine (in which no energy is required for performing work) is termed a “perpetual-motion machine of the first kind.” Since the input energy must now take heat into account (and in a broader sense chemical, electrical, nuclear, and other forms of energy as well), the law of energy conservation rules out the possibility of such a machine ever being invented. The first law is sometimes given in a contorted form as a statement that precludes the existence of perpetual-motion machines of the first kind.

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