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The law of thermodynamics
The law of thermodynamics
The law of thermodynamics
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Thermodynamics is the branch of science concerned with the nature of heat and its conversion to any form of energy. In thermodynamics, both the thermodynamic system and its environment are considered. A thermodynamic system, in general, is defined by its volume, pressure, temperature, and chemical make-up. In general, the environment will contain heat sources with unlimited heat capacity allowing it to give and receive heat without changing its temperature. Whenever the conditions change, the thermodynamic system will respond by changing its state; the temperature, volume, pressure, or chemical make-up will adjust accordingly in order to reach its original state of equilibrium. There are three laws of thermodynamics in which the changing system can follow in order to return to equilibrium.
In order for a system to gain energy the surroundings have to supply it, and visa versa when the system looses energy the surroundings must gain it. As the energy is transferred it can be converted form its original form to another as the transfer takes place, but the energy will never be created or destroyed. The first law of thermodynamics, also known as the law of conservation of energy, basically restates that energy can’t be destroyed or created “as follows: the total energy of the universe is a constant.” All around the conservation of energy is applied. When gasoline burns in the engine of a car, an equal amount of work and heat appear as the energy is released. The heat from the engine warms its surroundings, the cars parts, the air, and the passenger area. The heat energy is converted into the electrical energy of the radio, chemical energy of the battery, and radiant energy of the lights. The change in the sum of all of the energies formed from the burnt gasoline would be equal to the “…change in energy between the reactants and products.” Biological processes, like photosynthesis, also follow energy conservation. The green plants convert the radiant energy emitted by the Sun into useful chemical energy, such as the oxygen that we breathe. The energy transferred between any surroundings and any system can be in the form of various types of work, chemical, mechanical, radiant, electrical, or heat.
The second law of thermodynamics is expressed as a cycle that “all processes occur spontaneously in the direction that increases the entropy of the universe (system plus surrounding).” Entropy, the number of ways the components of a system can be rearranged without changing the system, plays a major roll in the second law of thermodynamics.
In this experiment, we are finding the Conservation of Energy. Energy is neither created nor destroyed. Energy is summed up into two different properties: Potential energy and Kinetic energy. The law of Energy states that:
4. Exhaust: After the Air/Fuel mix has been burnt, the remaining chemicals in the cylinder (water and CO2 for the most part) must be removed so that fresh air can be brought in. As the piston goes back up after combustion, the exhaust valve opens allowing the exhaust gasses to be released. Ideally an engine takes in air (oxygen and nitrogen) and fuel (hydrocarbons) and produces CO2, H2O, and the N2 just passes through.
Energy can never be created or destroyed. Energy may be transformed from one form to another, but the total energy of an isolated system is always constant.
For a better understanding of the theory of entropy it helps to understand the first law of thermodynamics, energy can neither be created nor destroyed, it may only change forms. In other words the energy of the universe is constant. For the universe (the ultimate system) to give up energy to increase ordered is not a likely event. Therefore ,for a system, a persons room for example, to become more ordered, energy must be put into the system, cleaning the room. Everything in the universe is governed by entropy through the Gibbs free energy equation which states; the heat content of the system, minus the temperature of the system times the entropy, or randomness will dictate whether the event will be spontaneous. Entropy is actually centered around the probability of an event occurring. The greater the statistical probability of a particular event occurring, the greater the entropy. A good example of this is an experiment with a new deck of playing cards. When the cards are first unwrapped they are arranged in numerical order and according to suit, if the cards are thrown into the air and allowed to fall to the floor. When they are swept up and restacked, we will almost certainly find that the cards have become disordered. We would expect this disordering to occur because there are millions of ways for the cards to become disordered and only one way for them to come together again in their original sequence.
One type of engine is a called a fuel cell. A fuel cell operates like a battery. Unlike a battery, a fuel cell does not run down or require recharging. It will produce energy in the form of electricity and heat as long as fuel is supplied. A fuel cell consists of two electrodes sandwiched around and electrolyte. Oxygen passes over one electrode and hydrogen over the other, generating electricity, water and heat. Hydrogen fuel is used to make all this work. Fuel cell emissions are nothing but water vapor.
Metaphysics is the search for an ultimate principle by which all real things and relations are ordered. It formulates fundamental statements about existence and change. A reversible (absolute) causality is thought to be the ultimate of reality. It is argued that a real (causal) process relating changes of any nature (physical, mental) and any sort (quantitative, qualitative, and substantial) reverses the order of its agency (action, influence, operation, producing): real causation must run in the opposite direction, or change to the opposite effect. A reversible process is a cyclical process, and all cyclical processes are reversible. The world is becoming active because it produces reversible processes; reversible processes organize the world. The world is the totality of interrelated cyclic processes occurring with all kinds of agents (objects, substances, and things).
type of energy is lost or gained, and whether or not a factor that is
An open system, like our Earth, is one that has no boundary, or whose boundary allows the passing of both energy and/or matter. The Earth receives solar energy in the form of visible light and infrared radiation. Without this energy, photosynthesis would not be carried out, nor would Earth be a habitable planet. The surface temperature would drop below the average temperature of 287 Kelvin creating a frozen Earth. There would be little to no atmospheric circulation; the only life would be found near deep hydrothermal vents. Since the Earth is an open system, it also needs to release energy. As the Earth takes in visible and infrared light from the sun, it also releases infrared light to prevent overheating (Breiterman, 2005). When deniers of evolution argue that the second law of thermodynamics strictly says “everything goes from order to disorder,” it is often not taken into account that, even if the Earth were to be a closed system, as one thing increases its entropic state another area of the system will decrease its entropy. (Morris, 1973).
Full combustion should generate two products only: carbon dioxide and water vapour. Hypothesis Within a molecule there are bond energies that hold the atoms together. When the fuel combusts, a chemical reaction takes place, this breaks the bonds, this requires energy, and makes new bonds, this gives out energy. The energy differences between the two tell us how much energy was given out or taken in. We can show this in a graph.
The is the law of cause and effect at work. In this way, the effect of one's
Clausius made a series of discoveries that led up to the discover of the Second Law of Thermodynamics, the equation the “changed the world”. First, Rudolf Clausius discovered that anywhere, everywhere, the total of all the energy in the universe is constant. Each form of energy can be turned into another. He also noticed that heat naturally flows from hot to cold, it only goes cold to hot using artificial means. He called this lopsided temperature change entropy. He wondered if all the changes in entropy would also be constant. That was not the case. He noticed in steam engines that the amount of heat going from hot to cold always exceeded the amount of heat going from cold to hot. He tested all kinds of objects with his entropy ideas and over and over again he noticed a net increase in entropy. He then devised this formula to explain this idea Suniverse0, which means that the amount of entropy in the universe is always greater than 0. This was a major breakthrough for many reasons. It gave a reason why everything aged and died. He compares the universe to a casino in which the gamblers make money, but they lose as well. As long as the casino makes more money than the gamblers, the casino stays in business. This is the same idea in the universe. As long as matter ages and dies, the universe exists. As heat begins to flow from hot to cold, it creates many lukewarm regions. Eventually, the universe will become one uniform
Finding Out Which Fuel Releases the Most Energy Per Gram. Aim: To be able to Find out which fuel releases the most energy per gram. Scientific Theory: What is the Science of Heat is the transfer of energy between two objects due to a temperature. The sand is a sand.
First a quick explanation of entropy; entropy is a thermodynamic property that is a measure of energy that is not useful; it is also regularly used to combat the theory of evolution. It explains how order can never come out of disorder and that random order can never spontaneously be generated.
Heat is thermal energy being transferred from one place to another, because of temperature changes. This can take place by three processes. These three processes are known as conduction, convection, and radiation.
Combustion occurs when any organic material is reacted or burned in the presence of oxygen to give off the products of carbon dioxide and water and energy. The organic material can be any fossil fuel such as natural gas (methane), oil, or coal. Other organic materials that combust are wood, paper, plastics, and cloth. The whole purpose of both processes is to convert chemical energy into other forms of energy such as heat.