PHYS1001 Lecture Notes - Lecture 14: Ideal Gas, Thermodynamic Process, Thermodynamic System
Document Summary
The total change in internal energy of a system is the sum of the heat added to it and the work done on it: Work done by the system on the environment. An expanding gas always does positive work. Work done by the environment on the system. Adiabatic process - no change in heat q = 0. Isothermally - no change in temperature w = nrtln( A thermodynamic system is a collection of objects we can regard as a unit, that can exchange energy with its surroundings. We need to be careful about signs when talking about heat transfer and work. W > 0 implies energy is removed from the system. The volume, pressure curve is hyperbolic, so as the volume approaches 0, the pressure becomes infinite. There can be many different paths" from one thermodynamic state to another, so the work done by a system during a transition between two states depends on the path chosen.
