Important Terms & Notes

1. Important Terms & Notes Conceptual Physics Mar. 11, 2014

2. Thermodynamics • The study of heat and its transformation into Mechanical Energy.

3. Absolute Zero • The temperature at which a substance has no kinetic energy per particle (thermal) to give up. • This temperature corresponds to 0° K or -273 ° C.

4. First Law of Thermodynamics • Heat added to a system is transformed into an equal amount of some other form of energy. • A version of the Law of Energy Conversion ΔQ = ΔEi + W

5. Adiabatic • The term applied to the expansion or compression of a gas occurring without the gain or loss of heat.

6. Second Law of Thermodynamics • Heat will never of itself flow from one object to another of higher temperature. • Heat will not flow from Cold to Hot without work being performed.

7. Heat Engine A Device that Changes Internal Energy into Mechanical Energy

8. Carnot Efficiency • The Ideal maximum percentage of input energy that can be converted into work in a heat engine. • Ideal Efficiency = (Thot – Tcold)/Thot

9. Entropy • A measure of the amount of disorder in a system. ΔS = Δ Q/T

10. System • A group of objects, substances or processes that can perform a function