Unlocking the Energetic Secrets: A Journey into Chemical Thermodynamics
System and Surroundings: A system refers to the portion of the universe under consideration, while surroundings encompass everything outside the system. The system and surroundings together make up the entire universe for a given analysis.
State Functions: Thermodynamic properties such as temperature, pressure, volume, and internal energy are state functions. These properties depend only on the current state of the system and are independent of the path taken to reach that state.
Internal Energy (U): The total energy contained within a system is its internal energy. Changes in internal energy are related to heat transfer and work done on or by the system.
Heat (q): Heat is the transfer of energy between a system and its surroundings due to a temperature difference. It can cause a change in the internal energy of the system.
Work (w): Work is the energy transfer associated with a force acting through a distance. In thermodynamics, work can be done on or by a system, leading to changes in the system’s internal energy.
Enthalpy (H): Enthalpy is defined as the internal energy plus the product of pressure and volume. It is often used to simplify expressions for heat transfer in constant-pressure processes.
First Law of Thermodynamics: This law states that energy cannot be created or destroyed in an isolated system; it can only change forms. The change in internal energy of a system is equal to the heat added to the system minus the work done by the system.
Second Law of Thermodynamics: The second law introduces the concept of entropy, a measure of the disorder or randomness of a system. It states that in any energy transfer or transformation, if no energy enters or leaves the system, the potential energy of the state will always be less than that of the initial state.
Gibbs Free Energy (G): Gibbs free energy is a thermodynamic potential that combines enthalpy and entropy to predict whether a process will be spontaneous. A decrease in Gibbs free energy indicates a spontaneous process.
Third Law of Thermodynamics: This law states that the entropy of a perfect crystal approaches zero as the temperature approaches absolute zero.
