Thermodynamics is a fine example of how the needs for very practical applications can lead to very basic general concepts and relationships, as opposed to the idea that the practical and applied facets of a science are a consequence of previous undergraduate studies. Thermodynamics teaches us that ideas and concepts can flow in all directions, between the fundamental and the applied. It was the very practical challenge of finding the best and most efficient method of extracting water from tin mines in Cornwall and elsewhere that was thought-provoking, particularly for young French engineer Sadi Carnot, who led us to very general basic concepts, including the laws of nature that we call "thermodynamics".
Traditional classical thermodynamics is deeply rooted in the concept that processes and machines have limits to the efficiency with which they can perform their tasks, limits that minimize the unnecessary losses of all real processes. And traditional thermodynamics focuses on finding those limits, and therefore how best to bring real systems closer to those limits. (Any system operating at its ideal limit would be infinitely slow, and one cannot tell whether it was moving forward or backward. Ideal processes of this kind are said to be "reversible.") But one can watch a science develop, wondering, in the case of thermodynamics, new questions about how real systems behave and how they deviate from these ideal but unattainable limits. When people started asking these questions, the science of thermodynamics took on a whole new character and a new direction. "Irreversible thermodynamics" is the name of the new direction. And when thermodynamics began to study the consequences of operating a system in real time, this new aspect became known as "end-time thermodynamics."
In a way, thermodynamics is the science that influences our daily life the most because we use its concepts and information in the way we design and operate many devices that we take for granted in our daily lives. The heating and cooling systems in our homes and other buildings, the engines that power our automobiles, even the design of buildings and vehicles all contain thermodynamic information to operate them properly. However, unlike many other sciences, the way it affects our daily lives is much more subtle, even invisible. We are much more aware of what biology does for us every day, or of new devices emerging from quantum physics, than of how thermodynamics affects our daily lives (although quantum physics introduces new aspects of thermodynamics).
The main impact of thermodynamics on our daily lives is in the many ways it shows us how to use energy efficiently and minimize the waste that inevitably comes with it. One of the first examples appeared when the subject was born, when the work of the French engineer Sadi Carnot revealed that the highest temperatures of any heat engine driving cycle had to be as high as possible. Thermodynamics tells us the importance of minimizing friction and heat loss through the walls of our engines and can tell us, for example, what is the best temperature profile for a distillation column to achieve the highest performance. efficient. It tells us how to build homes that require little or no fuel oil. Therefore, thermodynamics becomes a guide to design devices that perform better than we do.
The main impact of thermodynamics on our daily lives is in the many ways it shows us how to use energy efficiently and minimize the waste that inevitably comes with it. One of the first examples appeared when the subject was born, when the work of the French engineer Sadi Carnot revealed that the highest temperatures of any heat engine driving cycle had to be as high as possible. Thermodynamics tells us the importance of minimizing friction and heat loss through the walls of our engines and can tell us, for example, what is the best temperature profile for a distillation column to achieve the highest performance. effective. It tells us how to build homes that require little or no fuel oil. Therefore, thermodynamics becomes a guide to design devices that perform better than we do.
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Grace Randolph
Thermodynamics is a fine example of how the needs for very practical applications can lead to very basic general concepts and relationships, as opposed to the idea that the practical and applied facets of a science are a consequence of previous undergraduate studies. Thermodynamics teaches us that ideas and concepts can flow in all directions, between the fundamental and the applied. It was the very practical challenge of finding the best and most efficient method of extracting water from tin mines in Cornwall and elsewhere that was thought-provoking, particularly for young French engineer Sadi Carnot, who led us to very general basic concepts, including the laws of nature that we call "thermodynamics".
Traditional classical thermodynamics is deeply rooted in the concept that processes and machines have limits to the efficiency with which they can perform their tasks, limits that minimize the unnecessary losses of all real processes. And traditional thermodynamics focuses on finding those limits, and therefore how best to bring real systems closer to those limits. (Any system operating at its ideal limit would be infinitely slow, and one cannot tell whether it was moving forward or backward. Ideal processes of this kind are said to be "reversible.") But one can watch a science develop, wondering, in the case of thermodynamics, new questions about how real systems behave and how they deviate from these ideal but unattainable limits. When people started asking these questions, the science of thermodynamics took on a whole new character and a new direction. "Irreversible thermodynamics" is the name of the new direction. And when thermodynamics began to study the consequences of operating a system in real time, this new aspect became known as "end-time thermodynamics."
In a way, thermodynamics is the science that influences our daily life the most because we use its concepts and information in the way we design and operate many devices that we take for granted in our daily lives. The heating and cooling systems in our homes and other buildings, the engines that power our automobiles, even the design of buildings and vehicles all contain thermodynamic information to operate them properly. However, unlike many other sciences, the way it affects our daily lives is much more subtle, even invisible. We are much more aware of what biology does for us every day, or of new devices emerging from quantum physics, than of how thermodynamics affects our daily lives (although quantum physics introduces new aspects of thermodynamics).
The main impact of thermodynamics on our daily lives is in the many ways it shows us how to use energy efficiently and minimize the waste that inevitably comes with it. One of the first examples appeared when the subject was born, when the work of the French engineer Sadi Carnot revealed that the highest temperatures of any heat engine driving cycle had to be as high as possible. Thermodynamics tells us the importance of minimizing friction and heat loss through the walls of our engines and can tell us, for example, what is the best temperature profile for a distillation column to achieve the highest performance. efficient. It tells us how to build homes that require little or no fuel oil. Therefore, thermodynamics becomes a guide to design devices that perform better than we do.
Read Also : Does Shanna Moakler get along with Kourtney Kardashian?The main impact of thermodynamics on our daily lives is in the many ways it shows us how to use energy efficiently and minimize the waste that inevitably comes with it. One of the first examples appeared when the subject was born, when the work of the French engineer Sadi Carnot revealed that the highest temperatures of any heat engine driving cycle had to be as high as possible. Thermodynamics tells us the importance of minimizing friction and heat loss through the walls of our engines and can tell us, for example, what is the best temperature profile for a distillation column to achieve the highest performance. effective. It tells us how to build homes that require little or no fuel oil. Therefore, thermodynamics becomes a guide to design devices that perform better than we do.