Thermodynamics is the study of heat, energy, and their interactions. It explains how heat moves, how energy is used to do work, and how matter changes from one state to another. It’s like a guidebook for understanding energy in the world around us, used in fields like engineering, physics, and chemistry.
The concept of energy distribution among particles has been a topic of curiosity and research for centuries. However, it was in the 19th century that significant progress was made in understanding this phenomenon. The groundwork for the Law of Equipartition of Energy was laid by the kinetic theory of gases, which describes how the motion … Read more
The Kinetic Theory of Gases is a fundamental concept in physics that describes the behavior of gases at the molecular level. The history of this theory is quite rich and dates back to ancient times, but it was not until the 17th and 19th centuries that significant advancements were made. The idea that matter is … Read more
The story of the Ideal Gas Law is a tale of the discovery and the unification of several individual gas laws. It began in the 17th century with Boyle’s Law, discovered by Robert Boyle, which found that pressure and volume are inversely proportional in a gas at a constant temperature. Then, in the 18th century, … Read more
The journey of the Second Law of Thermodynamics began in the early 19th century with the work of French engineer Sadi Carnot. He was curious about improving the efficiency of steam engines, which were vital during the Industrial Revolution. In 1824, Carnot made a groundbreaking discovery: he found an upper limit to the efficiency of … Read more
The concept of heat as a form of energy that flows from a hotter body to a cooler one was developed over time. In the 18th century, scientists like Joseph Black and James Watt studied heat in the context of steam engines, leading to the formulation of the concept of latent heat and the improvement … Read more
The First Law of Thermodynamics didn’t just appear out of thin air; it was the result of many scientists’ work over several years. It’s like a puzzle that was slowly pieced together by different minds across the world. Before the First Law was formulated, people believed in the caloric theory, which suggested that heat was … Read more
The story of the Zeroth Law of Thermodynamics is unique. It’s a fundamental principle that was recognized after the first three laws of thermodynamics were already known. The name “Zeroth” comes from the fact that it needed to be placed before the First Law due to its foundational nature, even though it was discovered later. … Read more
Picture a cup of steaming hot tea left to cool on a table or a warm baked pie cooling on a kitchen counter. These everyday scenes exemplify the essence of Newton’s Law of Cooling, a principle that governs how the temperature of an object changes when it is in contact with a surrounding medium at … Read more
What is Latent Heat? Latent Heat is the energy absorbed or released by a substance during a phase change—like melting, freezing, or boiling—without changing its temperature. The word “latent” itself means hidden or concealed, indicating that this heat energy is not evident in the temperature of the substance but rather hidden within its molecular structure … Read more
Imagine observing a block of ice melting into a puddle of water on a warm sunny day or witnessing water vapor condensing into droplets on a cold window pane. These everyday phenomena are examples of changes of state, where substances transition between different physical states, such as solid, liquid, and gas. Changes of state are … Read more