Sign in or 

People just like you can add or edit the content on this site. If you want to try editing, but aren't ready to add to this site, try our demo area.
Read more about editing pages at Wetpaint Central.
)
See main: Conjugate variablesIn a generalized sense, a thermodynamic force is a tension whose conjugate extensity is length. [2] The central concept of thermodynamics is that of energy, the ability to do work. As stipulated by the first law, the total energy of the system and its surroundings is conserved. It may be transferred into a body by heating, compression, or addition of matter, and extracted from a body either by cooling, expansion, or extraction of matter. In mechanics, for comparison, energy transfer results from a force which causes displacement, the product of the two being the amount of energy transferred. In a similar way, thermodynamic systems can be thought of as transferring energy as the result of a “generalized force” causing a “generalized displacement”, with the product of the two being the amount of energy transferred. These thermodynamic force-displacement pairs are known as conjugate variables. The most common conjugate thermodynamic variables are pressure-volume (mechanical parameters), temperature-entropy (thermal parameters), and chemical potential-particle number (material parameters).
|
Sadi-Carnot |
Latest page update: made by Sadi-Carnot
, Jun 23 2009, 1:30 PM EDT
(about this update
About This Update
view changes - complete history) |
|
More Info: links to this page
|