I Basic Philosophy
II Necessary Knowledge
III Productive Living
IV Autobiography
V Beauty
VI Art-Making
Appendix I: Picture Library
THE LAWS OF THERMODYNAMICS
The zeroth law of thermodynamics provides a basic definition of empirical temperature based on the principle of thermal equilibrium.
The first law of thermodynamics mandates conservation of energy and states in particular that the flow of heat is a form of energy transfer.
The second law of thermodynamics states that the entropy of an isolated macroscopic system never decreases, or, equivalently, that perpetual motion machines are impossible.
The third law of thermodynamics concerns the entropy of a perfect crystal at absolute zero temperature, and implies that it is impossible to cool a system to exactly absolute zero.
Zeroth Law of Thermodynamics:
If two thermodynamic systems are each in thermal equilibrium with a third system, then they are in thermal equilibrium with each other.
First Law:
Energy can be neither created nor destroyed. It can only change forms.
In any process in an isolated system, the total energy remains the same.
For a thermodynamic cycle the net heat supplied to the system equals the net work done by the system.
Second law of thermodynamics:
When two isolated systems in separate but nearby regions of space, each in thermodynamic equilibrium in itself, but not in equilibrium with each other at first, are at some time allowed to interact, breaking the isolation that separates the two systems, and they exchange matter or energy, they will eventually reach a mutual thermodynamic equilibrium. The sum of the entropies of the initial, isolated systems is less than or equal to the entropy of the final exchanging systems. In the process of reaching a new thermodynamic equilibrium, entropy has increased, or at least has not decreased.
Third law of thermodynamics:
As temperature approaches absolute zero, the entropy of a system approaches a minimum.