Thermodynamic models are mathematical representations used to describe the behavior of materials and systems in relation to thermodynamic principles, which govern the relationships between heat, work, temperature, and energy. These models are essential in various fields, including chemistry, physics, engineering, and materials science, as they help predict how substances will react under different conditions.
A thermodynamic process is a sequence of changes that a thermodynamic system undergoes in terms of its state variables, which include properties like temperature, pressure, volume, and entropy. During a thermodynamic process, the system exchanges energy with its surroundings, typically in the form of heat and work. The nature of these exchanges and the paths taken can greatly influence the characteristics of the process.
The history of thermodynamics is a rich and evolving narrative that spans several centuries, encompassing significant developments in physics and chemistry, as well as important philosophical implications regarding the nature of energy and matter. Here’s an overview of its key milestones: ### Early Concepts - **Ancient Time**: The earliest understandings of heat and energy can be traced to ancient civilizations. The Greeks, such as Aristotle, attempted to categorize natural phenomena but lacked empirical methodologies.
The Buckingham potential is a mathematical model used to describe the interaction between atoms or molecules, particularly for systems where van der Waals forces play a significant role. It is commonly used in computational chemistry and molecular dynamics simulations. The potential function captures both the attractive and repulsive interactions between particles.
Ali Akbar Moosavi-Movahedi is an Iranian cleric and scholar known for his religious leadership and contributions to Islamic thought, particularly within the context of Shia Islam. He has been involved in various educational and social initiatives, promoting Islamic teachings and community welfare. His work often emphasizes the importance of moral and ethical values in Islamic practice.
Electrochemical potential is a thermodynamic concept that describes the potential energy of charged particles in an electrochemical system. It combines both the electrical potential and the chemical potential, reflecting the energy contributions from the electrostatic interactions (due to charge) and the concentration of species (due to chemical activity).
Heat transfer physics is the branch of physics that studies the movement of thermal energy (heat) from one physical system to another due to temperature differences. It involves the mechanisms through which heat is transferred and the laws governing these processes. Heat transfer can occur in three primary ways: 1. **Conduction**: This is the transfer of heat through a solid material without the motion of the material itself. Heat is transferred through molecular collisions and vibrations.
A thermal oscillator is a type of system or device that generates oscillations or vibrations as a result of thermal effects, primarily due to temperature fluctuations and thermal processes. It typically involves the interplay between thermal energy and the mechanical properties of materials. In essence, thermal oscillators can be thought of in terms of how they exploit the relationship between heat and mechanical motion.
A waterspout is a tornado that occurs over a body of water. It is a rotating column of air that connects the surface of the water to the clouds above. Waterspouts can form in a similar manner to land-based tornadoes, often developing in conditions with warm, moist air and unstable atmospheric conditions. There are primarily two types of waterspouts: 1. **Fair-weather waterspouts**: These are typically weaker and form in relatively calm weather conditions.
Convection is a mode of heat transfer that occurs through the movement of fluids (liquids and gases). It is one of the three primary mechanisms of heat transfer, the other two being conduction and radiation. In convection, heat is transferred by the bulk movement of the fluid, carrying thermal energy with it.
Critical Heat Flux (CHF) is a key concept in thermodynamics and heat transfer, particularly in the field of boiling heat transfer. It refers to the maximum heat flux (the rate of heat transfer per unit area) that can be achieved during the boiling of a liquid before a dramatic drop in heat transfer efficiency occurs. Beyond this point, the liquid begins to transition to a vapor phase, and the heat transfer mechanism changes significantly.
Negative thermal expansion (NTE) is a phenomenon where certain materials contract rather than expand when heated. Unlike most materials, which exhibit a positive thermal expansion coefficient and expand as their temperature increases, materials exhibiting NTE demonstrate a decrease in volume with increasing temperature within certain temperature ranges. This behavior can be attributed to specific structural characteristics of the material at the atomic or molecular level.
The term "particle number" can refer to different concepts depending on the context in which it is used. Here are a few common interpretations: 1. **In Physics**: Particle number often refers to the quantity of discrete particles, such as atoms, molecules, or subatomic particles (like electrons or protons) in a given system. For instance, in statistical mechanics, the particle number \(N\) might represent the total number of particles in a gas or other physical system.
Evaporative cooling is a process that occurs in atomic physics, particularly in the context of ultracold gases. It refers to the technique used to achieve and maintain very low temperatures in a system of atoms or particles. Here's how it works: 1. **Basic Concept**: In a system of particles, the temperature is related to the average kinetic energy of the particles. Higher energy particles move faster, while lower energy particles move slower. Evaporative cooling takes advantage of this distribution of energies.
The term "Flow process" can refer to different concepts depending on the context in which it is used. Here are a few interpretations: 1. **Business and Operations Management**: In this context, a flow process refers to the sequence of steps or activities that are carried out in a systematic manner to complete a task or produce a product. This can involve the movement of materials, information, or tasks through various stages, and is often visualized using flowcharts.
Heat is a form of energy that is transferred between systems or objects with different temperatures, occurring spontaneously from the hotter object to the cooler one. It is a crucial concept in the field of thermodynamics and is associated with the motion of particles within a substance.
Laser cooling is a technique used to reduce the kinetic energy of atoms or particles, effectively lowering their temperature. This process utilizes the interaction between laser light and the atoms to slow them down, which causes a decrease in their thermal motion. The basic principle of laser cooling involves using a laser beam tuned slightly below an atomic transition frequency. When an atom absorbs a photon from the laser, it gains momentum in the direction of the incoming photon.
The Massieu function is used in the field of thermodynamics and statistical mechanics. It is a mathematical function that relates to the properties of a thermodynamic system and is defined in terms of the system's free energy. In thermodynamic contexts, the Massieu function \( \phi \) is typically expressed as: \[ \phi = -\frac{F}{T} \] where: - \( F \) is the Helmholtz free energy of the system.
Natural uranium is uranium that occurs in nature and is typically found in ore. It consists mainly of three isotopes: uranium-238 (about 99.3%), uranium-235 (about 0.7%), and a trace amount of uranium-234. The most significant isotope for nuclear applications is uranium-235, which is fissile and can sustain a nuclear chain reaction, making it valuable for nuclear power generation and nuclear weapons.
Maxwell's thermodynamic surface is a conceptual representation in thermodynamics that illustrates the relationship between different thermodynamic variables, particularly entropy, volume, and energy. It is typically depicted as a multidimensional surface in a three-dimensional space where the axes represent entropy (S), volume (V), and internal energy (U). The surface provides a visual framework to understand how changes in one variable can affect the others and helps to derive relationships between different thermodynamic properties.

Pinned article: Introduction to the OurBigBook Project

Welcome to the OurBigBook Project! Our goal is to create the perfect publishing platform for STEM subjects, and get university-level students to write the best free STEM tutorials ever.
Everyone is welcome to create an account and play with the site: ourbigbook.com/go/register. We belive that students themselves can write amazing tutorials, but teachers are welcome too. You can write about anything you want, it doesn't have to be STEM or even educational. Silly test content is very welcome and you won't be penalized in any way. Just keep it legal!
We have two killer features:
  1. topics: topics group articles by different users with the same title, e.g. here is the topic for the "Fundamental Theorem of Calculus" ourbigbook.com/go/topic/fundamental-theorem-of-calculus
    Articles of different users are sorted by upvote within each article page. This feature is a bit like:
    • a Wikipedia where each user can have their own version of each article
    • a Q&A website like Stack Overflow, where multiple people can give their views on a given topic, and the best ones are sorted by upvote. Except you don't need to wait for someone to ask first, and any topic goes, no matter how narrow or broad
    This feature makes it possible for readers to find better explanations of any topic created by other writers. And it allows writers to create an explanation in a place that readers might actually find it.
    Figure 1.
    Screenshot of the "Derivative" topic page
    . View it live at: ourbigbook.com/go/topic/derivative
  2. local editing: you can store all your personal knowledge base content locally in a plaintext markup format that can be edited locally and published either:
    This way you can be sure that even if OurBigBook.com were to go down one day (which we have no plans to do as it is quite cheap to host!), your content will still be perfectly readable as a static site.
    Figure 2.
    You can publish local OurBigBook lightweight markup files to either https://OurBigBook.com or as a static website
    .
    Figure 3.
    Visual Studio Code extension installation
    .
    Figure 4.
    Visual Studio Code extension tree navigation
    .
    Figure 5.
    Web editor
    . You can also edit articles on the Web editor without installing anything locally.
    Video 3.
    Edit locally and publish demo
    . Source. This shows editing OurBigBook Markup and publishing it using the Visual Studio Code extension.
    Video 4.
    OurBigBook Visual Studio Code extension editing and navigation demo
    . Source.
  3. https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ourbigbook/ourbigbook-media/master/feature/x/hilbert-space-arrow.png
  4. Infinitely deep tables of contents:
    Figure 6.
    Dynamic article tree with infinitely deep table of contents
    .
    Descendant pages can also show up as toplevel e.g.: ourbigbook.com/cirosantilli/chordate-subclade
All our software is open source and hosted at: github.com/ourbigbook/ourbigbook
Further documentation can be found at: docs.ourbigbook.com
Feel free to reach our to us for any help or suggestions: docs.ourbigbook.com/#contact