🔥 Thermodynamics — Intro#

Scope — How energy, heat, and work govern physical processes and constrain what changes are possible.

Key concepts#

• Thermodynamics — study of energy transfer and transformation in physical systems.
• System and surroundings — the part under study and everything else interacting with it.
• Heat and work — two distinct modes of energy transfer.

Seed Q&A triads#

• Q: What does thermodynamics fundamentally describe?
  A: How energy moves, changes form, and limits physical processes.

• Q: How is heat different from temperature?
  A: Temperature measures average kinetic energy; heat is energy transferred due to temperature difference.

• Q: Why is defining the system important?
  A: Energy accounting depends on what is included versus treated as surroundings.

Quick activities#

• Identify the system, surroundings, heat flow, and work in a boiling pot of water.