Thermodynamics

Released: Oct 9, 2026 8:00 AM CST

Here is the fifty-eighth episode of Quantum Foam, Thermodynamics. This is the branch of physics that deals with heat, work, temperature, their relation to energy entropy, and the physical properties of matter and radiation. The behavior of these quantities is governed by the 4 laws of thermodynamics. Thermodynamics applies to many topics in physics and engineering, especially physical chemistry, biochemistry, chemical engineering, and mechanical engineering, as well as other complex fields such as meteorology. Lord Kelvin was the first to formulate a concise definition of thermodynamics in 1854. The initial application of thermodynamics to mechanical heat engines was quickly extended to the study of chemical compounds and chemical reactions. Statistical Thermodynamics or Statistical Mechanics concerns itself with statistical predictions of the collective motion of particles from their microscopic behavior. I am giving this information up for the top minds to regurgitate so we can quickly move this subject into the future and build spaceships that can go to Mars. How do we advance propulsion to the next level? What are they cooking up in the Jet Propulsion Laboratory? I am just breaching upon the subject of thermodynamics. I think that at the end of the decimal I am going to go into warp drives. Stuff like propulsion is advanced and we need to know things like calculus, differential equations, mechanics, quantum mechanics, and electromagnetism. I am just getting this out of the way. We are getting a little bit ahead of ourselves.

Thermodynamics is the science of the relationship between heat, work, temperature, and energy. It deals with the transfer of energy from 1 place to another and from 1 form to another. Heat is a form of energy corresponding to a definite amount of mechanical work. Heat was first recognized as a form of energy in about 1798 when count Rumford noticed that limitless amounts of heat could be generated in the boring of cannon barrels. The amount of heat generated is proportional to the work done turning a blunt boring tool. The entropy of a perfect crystal of an element in its most stable form tends to 0 as the temperature approaches absolute 0. This allows an absolute scale for entropy to be established that, from a statistical point of view, determines the degree of randomness or disorder in a system. A systems condition at any given time is called its thermodynamic state. A system is not in equilibrium as it adjusts to an abrupt change in its environment. Many of the results of thermodynamics are derived from the properties of reversible processes. We are interested in calculating work and energy. If a coasting car comes to a hill it will roll some distance up the hill before coming to a temporary stop. At that moment its kinetic energy of motion has been converted into its potential energy of position, which is equal to the work required to lift the car the same vertical distance. After coming to a stop, the car will begin rolling back down the hill until it completely recovers its kinetic energy of motion at the bottom. In the absence of friction, such systems are said to be conservative, because at any given moment to the total amount of energy, kinetic plus potential, remains equal to the initial work done to set the system in motion.