Check yourself whether you understand the meaning of the main terms:
Check yourself whether you understand the meaning of the main terms:
Absolute Zero: The temperature at which all processes stop (defined in the third law of thermodynamics). This temperature is: 0 degrees Kelvin, -273.15 degrees Celsius, or -459.67 degrees Fahrenheit.
Ampere (Amp, I): The electrical charge of one coulomb in one second
British Thermal Unit (abbreviated as BTU): Roughly 1,055 joules or the amount of energy needed to get one pound of water from 39 to 40 degrees Fahrenheit.
Caloric: “Heat”, defined as a material thing. Hotness was thought of as “amount of caloric”. Obsolete.
Coulomb (C): The charge of an electrical current of one ampere in one second or the absolute value of the electrical charge of about 6.24*10^18 protons or electrons (with protons having a positive charge and electrons having a negative charge).
Enthalpy: The total amount of energy in a system
Entropy (when applied to thermodynamics): The amount of heat that can't be used to do work; a measure of the randomness of a system.
Equilibrium (thermodynamics): The state of a system in which there is no flux.
Frigoric: “Cold”, defined as a material thing ALSO KNOWN AS lack of caloric
Gibbs' Free Energy: A thermodynamic quantity described as the amount of energy that can do work, or the amount of useful energy. Essentially the opposite of entropy.
Heat (Q): Energy that is transferred from one system to another in the form of internal energy due to differences in temperature. Can be measured in joules, British Thermal Units, small calories, or large calories. When it is a rate, watts is oftentimes used.
Heat Capacity: The amount of energy (in Joules) required to raise the temperature of a substance by 1° C. Also known as specific heat.
Internal energy: The energy of the motions of atoms and molecules within an object (includes potential energy of molecules and atoms in liquids and solids). Temperature is the measure of the internal energy of an object.
Joule (J): A unit of work
Large Calorie: The amount of energy required to increase the temperature of one kilogram of water by one degree Celsius (about 4,200 joules).
Latent Heat: Heat in an object that you cannot sense
Laws of Thermodynamics: The fundamental laws that dictate how everything works in the world of thermodynamics
Resistance: The amount that an object resists the flow of electric current
Sensible Heat: Heat in an object that you can sense
Small Calorie: The amount of energy required to increase the temperature of one gram of water by one degree Celsius (about 4.2 joules).
Specific Heat: The amount of energy needed to raise
Spontaneous Reaction: A reaction that proceeds downhill. This reaction releases more energy (as heat, light, etc.) than it takes in. Also known as “exergonic”.
Temperature: The average kinetic energy of an object
Temperature Scale: A continuum in algebraically equal intervals that gives a value to the average kinetic heat of an object
Thermal Equilibrium: When an object/system has an unchanging uniform temperature or when there is no exchange of heat when two objects/systems can exchange heat (In other words, they have the same temperature.).
Thermodynamic Equilibrium: When there are no net flows of matter or energy to or away from a system and no net changes in the matter and energy in that system.
Work (W): The energy transferred between systems that changes the system that it is transferred to (measured in joules).
Volt (Voltage, V, E): The energy required to move electrons from one location to another divided by the charge of the electrons in Coulombs.
Watt (P or W): The electrical engineering unit for power that is equivalent to one joule per one second or one volt in a current of one ampere.