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Description
Introduction: The First Law of Thermodynamics places important restraints on the path that can be taken by a system but it does not define the path. For example, the First Law does not rule out the possibility of warming oneself by sitting on a block of ice. From the perspective of the First Law, this process is feasible as long as the thermal energy gained by your body equals in magnitude the thermal energy lost by the ice. Yet we know that this process does not occur. In fact, the reverse is the natural process and we would cool ourselves by sitting on the ice. Clearly something very important is missing from our thermodynamic apparatus. It is the Second Law of Thermodynamics, the most important of the three. In this course we shall not discuss the Third Law which makes statements about the behavior of materials at low temperature and the impossibility of reaching absolute zero in a finite number of steps. We shall introduce the Second Law from the molecular level as this approach clearly indicates the important message. Natural processes in nature are a consequence of blind chance and within the constraints imposed by the conservation of energy lead to an increase of disorder of the entire universe.
Chemistry-Study and teaching Handouts Thermodynamics Second law of thermodynamics Chemical equilibrium
Place
Claremont (Calif.)
Source
Webpages converted to pdf from Pomona College Chemistry Department Index to the Pages Administered by Wayne E. Steinmetz, a.k.a. Der Feldmarschall http://pages.pomona.edu/~wsteinmetz/ , 3. General Chemistry Homepage, 5. Handouts, Chemistry 1a (fall semester), Introduction to Thermodynamics, Part II, the Second Law.
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