We are now about to start on a very different type of topic in physics – namely, that of thermodynamic properties of systems. We will only be touching lightly on this subject in this course, but you should be getting more on this topic in your study of chemistry.
We may think of thermodynamics as the study of the interactions between systems of particles or objects as a result of temperature differences between those systems of objects. If you think about it, this applies to a lot of situations, only some of which we’ll be able to address in our short exposure to this important subject. Nevertheless, you will find that, even armed with only a few fundamental relations, we will be able to handle a surprising variety of situations.
While this subject may seem completely different than what we’ve studied in this course so far, don’t be too surprised to find some ideas from our study of fluids or Newton’s 2nd law creep in when you least expect them!
Our definition of thermodynamics above hinges on one simple word that we really haven’t used so far in this course: temperature. We start off this lecture with a discussion of temperature and temperature scales. We then go on to start talking about the effects of changes in temperature on solids, liquids and gases.