Thermodynamics (from the
Greek θερμη, therme, meaning "
heat" and δυναμις, dynamis, meaning "
power") is a branch of
physics that studies the effects of changes in
temperature,
pressure, and
volume on
physical systems at the
macroscopic scale by analyzing the collective motion of their particles using
statistics. Roughly,
heat means "energy in transit" and
dynamics relates to "movement"; thus, in essence thermodynamics studies the movement of energy and how energy instills movement. Historically, thermodynamics developed out of need to increase the
efficiency of early
steam engines. The starting point for most thermodynamic considerations are the
laws of thermodynamics, which postulate that
energy can be exchanged between physical systems as heat or
work. They also postulate the existence of a quantity named
entropy, which can be defined for any system. In thermodynamics, interactions between large ensembles of objects are studied and categorized. Central to this are the concepts of
system and
surroundings. A system is composed of particles, whose average motions define its properties, which in turn are related to one another through
equations of state. Properties can be combined to express
internal energy and
thermodynamic potentials, which are useful for determining conditions for
equilibrium and
spontaneous processes.
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