1.1.2 Understanding The World of Thermodynamics

CHAPTER 1: ENERGY
LESSON 1: FUELS
Section 2: Understanding the World of Thermodynamics
INTRODUCTION:
In order to harness the energies stored in fuels, a better understanding of the

concepts of thermodynamics is needed to be established first. However,
thermodynamics is a world that speaks of its own language. Understanding the world of
thermodynamics means getting used to its unique language.
LESSON OBJECTIVES:
After successful completion of this lesson, the students are expected to:
1.) Define and give examples of the different classifications of a system.
2.) Define and give examples of extensive and intensive properties.
3.) Define what is a state function.
4.) Define and differentiate the different thermodynamic processes.
COURSE MATERIALS:
What is Thermodynamics?
Thermodynamics is the study of the interrelationships among various forms of

energy. It comes from the Greek words “therme” (heat) and “dy’namis” (power),
which literary means “power from heat”.
Chemical thermodynamics, on the other hand, is a branch of thermodynamics

that deals with the relationship between heat and work from chemical reactions such as
the combustion of fuel.
The Thermodynamic System
Since thermodynamics has very large scope, there is a need for the study of
interest to be defined and be separated from the rest of the universe. The defined scope
is known as the “system” and everything that is not within the system is known as
the “surroundings”. The system and surroundings are separated by a “boundary”
that can either be real or imaginary. (Figure 1)
Figure 1.0: In the study of thermodynamics, it is important to separate the focus of
interest, known as the system, from the rest of the universe.
Both the thermodynamic system and the surroundings has their own amount of
materials and energies that can pass through the boundary. With this, a thermodynamic
system can be classified as isolated, closed or open. A system is considered as isolated
when it is not capable of exchanging both matter and energy with its surroundings such
as a hot water inside a perfectly isolated thermal container. When the system is only
capable of exchanging energy but not matter with its surroundings, it is classified as a
closed system. An example of which is a hot water inside a perfectly closed container.
Meanwhile, a system is classified as open when the system is capable of exchanging
both matter and energy with its surrounding such as a pot of boiling water. Energy in the
form of heat is introduced to the system to cause its boiling. After sometime, some of
the water molecules escape from the system as it changes its phase from liquid to vapor.
A system can also have different phases: they can either be homogeneous or
heterogeneous. Phase is defined as a part of a mechanically separable portion of a
material with a homogeneous physical distinction. A system is considered
homogeneous when it only consists of only one phase such as a glass of distilled water.
On the other hand, a system is considered heterogeneous when it consists of two or
more phases such as a glass of saltwater.
Thermodynamic States and Properties
A system has its own composition and energy that are both measurable. Its
composition can be determined through measuring the system component’s mass and
volume. These measurable amounts of materials can be further used to define the
amount of energy it contains by checking on the systems prevailing pressure and
temperature. The composition, volume, temperature and pressure are measurable
physical quantities that enables us to define the thermodynamic property of a system;
hence, are considered as thermodynamic parameters.
The parameters that are being measured in a thermodynamic system gives its
characteristic that can be quantitatively evaluated known as the system’s property.
These parameters have magnitudes that may either be dependent or independent on
the amount of material being measured. A system is said to have an intensive property
if the magnitude of the measured property is not dependent on the amount of material
being measured such as temperature and density. On the other hand, a system has an
extensive property if the magnitude of the measured property is dependent on the
amount of material being measured such as volume and energy.
The system’s thermodynamic parameters describe its thermodynamic state in

a way that a change in value of one or more thermodynamic parameters can result to a
change of its state. With this, the state of the system also determines its corresponding
phase as can be seen on Figure 2.
With variations of thermodynamic parameters, a system can undergo changes from an
initial to a final state but it needs to go through some series of states called path. When
the change of a system that occurred only depends on the state of the system but not
on the path followed by the system during the change, we say that the system has a
thermodynamic property known as state function. Most of the types of energies
discussed in thermodynamics have state function properties.
Thermodynamic Processes
A thermodynamic process is defined as the transformation of a thermodynamic

system undergoes changes from one system to another. They can be classified as flow
or nonflow and reversible and irreversible processes.
A flow process is the one in which flow of fluid (either gas or liquid) undergoes
through an open system while a nonflow process is the one in which fluid flow
undergoes a closed system. In an open system, the amount of material in the system
changes over time, while in a closed system, the flow of material is under a steady-state
condition, that is, the amount of material in the system does not vary over time.
An irreversible process is one in which the system and the surrounding cannot
go back to their original states after undergoing thermodynamic changes. Meanwhile, a
reversible process is one which the energy change in every step of the process can
be reversed in direction by an infinitesimal change in any of the variables acting on the
system. A process can be made reversible by performing the change very slowly with
no friction and no finite temperature differences.
Thermodynamic changes occur differently depending on the changes on the

different thermodynamic variables that comprise the system. There are times that some
of the variables are held constant which leads to the different types of thermodynamic
processes available. When a process undergoes changes under a constant
temperature, it is called an isothermal process.
When a process undergoes changes under a constant pressure, it is called an

isobaric process. When a process undergoes changes under constant volume, it is
called an isochoric process. Whenever changes in a temperature in a system occur
but there is no heat flow exchanged between the system and surroundings involved, the
process is known to be adiabatic.

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CHAPTER 1: ENERGY

Section 2: Understanding the World of Thermodynamics

In order to harness the energies stored in fuels, a better understanding of the

Thermodynamics is the study of the interrelationships among various forms of

Chemical thermodynamics, on the other hand, is a branch of thermodynamics

The Thermodynamic System

Thermodynamic States and Properties

The system’s thermodynamic parameters describe its thermodynamic state in

A thermodynamic process is defined as the transformation of a thermodynamic

Thermodynamic changes occur differently depending on the changes on the

When a process undergoes changes under a constant pressure, it is called an

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