THERMODYNAMICS

Thermodynamics: It is a science of energy (heat and work) transfer, and its cause and effect on
the physical properties of substance, only concerned with large scale observations.
Thermodynamic Medium: A thermodynamic medium is a fluid like continues substance, which
composed of molecules, collides with each other and random motions.
Ideal Gas: An ideal gas is a hypothetical gas composed of many randomly
moving molecules whose only interactions are perfectly elastic collisions.
Elastic Collisions: An elastic collision is an encounter between two bodies in which the
total kinetic energy of the two bodies after the encounter is equal to their total kinetic energy
before the encounter. Perfectly elastic collisions occur only if there is no net conversion of kinetic
energy into other forms (such as heat or noise) and therefore they do not normally occur in reality.
Note: Generally, a gas behaves more like an ideal gas at higher temperature and lower pressure,
as the potential energy due to intermolecular forces becomes less significant compared with the
particles kinetic energy, and the size of the molecules becomes less significant compared to the
empty space between them.
Perfect Gas: A perfect gas composed of many randomly moving molecules whose intermolecular
forces or potential energies are neglected.
A perfect gas is a theoretical gas that differs from real gases in a way that makes certain
calculations easier to handle. Its behavior is more simplified compared to an ideal gas (also a
theoretical gas). In particular, intermolecular forces are neglected, which means that one can use
the ideal gas law without restriction and neglect many complications that may arise from the Van
der Waals forces.
There is just a minor difference that is, for ideal gasspecific heats are dependent of the
temperature, while for the perfect gas specific heats are independent of the temperature. Perfect
gas is one in which intermolecular forces are not considered. ...Perfect gas obeys ideal gas law
and it has constant specific heats

Def: A thermodynamic cycle consists of a linked sequence of thermodynamic processes that

involve transfer of heat and work into and out of the system through a working fluid called
thermodynamic media, while varying pressure, temperature, and other state variables within the
system, and that eventually returns the system to its initial state.

A thermodynamic system is the material and radiative content of a macroscopic volume in

space, that can be adequately described by thermodynamic state variables such as temperature,
entropy, internal energy, and pressure.

In the process of passing through a cycle, the working fluid (system) may convert heat from a
warm source into useful work, and dispose of the remaining heat to a cold sink, thereby acting as
a heat engine. Conversely, the cycle may be reversed and use work to move heat from a cold
source and transfer it to a warm sink thereby acting as a heat pump. At every point in the cycle,
the system is in thermodynamic equilibrium, so the cycle is reversible (its entropy change is zero,
as entropy is a state function).
During a closed cycle, the system returns to its original thermodynamic state of temperature and
pressure. Process quantities (or path quantities), such as heat and work are process dependent.
For a cycle for which the system returns to its initial state the first law of thermodynamics applies: