Thermodynamics free essay sample

The first established principle of thermodynamics (which eventually became the Second Law) was formulated by Sadi Carnot in 1824. By 1860, as found in the works of those such as Rudolf Clausius and William Thomson, there were two established principles of thermodynamics, the first principle and the second principle. As the years passed, these principles turned into laws. By 1873, for example, thermodynamicist Josiah Willard Gibbs, in his â€Å"Graphical Methods in the Thermodynamics of Fluids†, clearly stated that there were two absolute laws of thermodynamics, a first law and a second law. When two systems are put in contact with each other, there will be a net exchange of energy between them unless or until they are in thermal equilibrium, that is, they contain the same amount of thermal energy for a given volume (say, 1 cubic centimeter, or 1 cubic inch. While this is a fundamental concept of thermodynamics, the need to state it explicitly as a law was not perceived until the first third of the 20th century, long after the first three laws were already widely in use, hence the zero numbering. We will write a custom essay sample on Thermodynamics or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The Zeroth Law asserts that thermal equilibrium, viewed as a binary relation, is an equivalence relation. [edit] First law Main article: First law of thermodynamics In any process, the total energy of the universe remains the same. It can also be defined as: for a thermodynamic cycle the sum of net heat supplied to the system and the net work done by the system is equal to zero. More simply, the First Law states that energy cannot be created or destroyed; rather, the amount of energy lost in a steady state process cannot be greater than the amount of energy gained. A pithy summation would be You Cant Win. This is the statement of conservation of energy for a thermodynamic system. It refers to the two ways that a closed system transfers energy to and from its surroundings by the process of heating (or cooling) and the process of mechanical work. The rate of gain or loss in the stored energy of a system is determined by the rates of these two processes. In open systems, the flow of matter is another energy transfer mechanism, and extra terms must be included in the expression of the first law. The First Law clarifies the nature of energy. It is a stored quantity which is independent of any particular process path, i. e. , it is independent of the system history. If a system undergoes a thermodynamic cycle, whether it becomes warmer, cooler, larger, or smaller, then it will have the same amount of energy each time it returns to a particular state. Mathematically speaking, energy is a state function and infinitesimal changes in the energy are exact differentials. All laws of thermodynamics but the First are statistical and simply describe the tendencies of macroscopic systems. For microscopic systems with few particles, the variations in the parameters become larger than the parameters themselves, and the assumptions of thermodynamics become meaningless. The First Law, i. e. the law of conservation, has become the most secure of all basic laws of science. At present, it is unquestioned. [edit] Second law Main article: Second law of thermodynamics The entropy of an isolated system not in equilibrium will tend to increase over time, approaching a maximum value at equilibrium. In a simple manner, the second law states that energy systems have a tendency to increase their entropy rather than decrease it. A pithy summation of the Second Law would be You Cant Even Break Even. A way of looking at the second law for non-scientists is to look at entropy as a measure of chaos. So, for example, a broken cup has less order and more chaos than an intact one. Likewise, solid crystals, the most organized form of matter, have very low entropy values; and gases, which are highly disorganized, have high entropy values. The entropy of a thermally isolated macroscopic system never decreases (see Maxwells demon). However, a microscopic system may exhibit fluctuations of entropy opposite to that dictated by the Second Law (see Fluctuation Theorem). In fact, the mathematical proof of the Fluctuation Theorem from time-reversible dynamics and the Axiom of Causality constitutes a proof of the Second Law. In a logical sense the Second Law thus ceases to be a Law of physics and instead becomes a theorem which is valid for large systems or long times. The first and second law can be combined to yield the Fundamental Thermodynamic Relation: dE = TdS pdV\, Here, E is energy, T is temperature, S is entropy, p is pressure, and V is volume edit] Third law Main article: Third law of thermodynamics As temperature approaches absolute zero, the entropy of a system approaches a constant minimum. In brief, this postulates that entropy is temperature dependent and leads to the formulation of the idea of absolute zero. This has been summed up as You Cant Even Stay Out Of The Game. [edit] Tentative fourth laws or principles In the late 19th century, thermodynamicist Ludwig Boltzmann argued that the fundamental object of contention in the life-struggle in the evolution of the organic world is available energy. Since then, over the years, various thermodynamic researchers have come forward to ascribe to or to postulate potential fourth laws of thermodynamics; in some cases, even fifth or sixth laws of thermodynamics are proposed. The majority of these tentative fourth law statements are attempts to apply thermodynamics to evolution. Most fourth law statements, however, are speculative and far from agreed upon.

Edna St. Vincent Millays My Candle Burns at Both Ends

Edna St. Vincent Millay's My Candle Burns at Both Ends When award-winning poet  Edna St. Vincent Millay  died of a heart attack on Oct. 19, 1950, the New York Times noted that she was well known for crafting a poem that ended my candle burns at both ends. The newspaper of record pointed out that critics viewed the line of verse as frivolous, but that hadnt stopped Millay from surfacing as an idol of the younger generation during the 1920s. Today, the poet,  born on Feb.  22, 1892, is no longer an idol to youth, but her poetry is widely taught in schools.  She remains an inspiration to both feminists and the LGBT community. With this brief overview of Millays frivolous work, First Fig, the poem in which the candle line appears, get a better understanding of the verses context and its reception after it was published. Text of First Fig First Fig appeared in Millays poetry collection  A Few Figs from Thistles: Poems and Four  Sonnets, which debuted in  1920. It was just the young poets second collection of poems. Her first, Renascence: and other poems, came out three years earlier.  The critics who dismissed First Fig had no idea that Millay would go on to win the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1923 for  The Ballad of the Harp Weaver. She was only the third woman to win the Pulitzer in the poetry category. Perhaps because First Fig was just a single stanza, it was easily memorized and came to be the work with which Millay is most associated. The poem is as follows: My candle burns at both endsIt will not last the night;But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends -It gives a lovely light. First Fig Analysis and Reception Because First Fig is such a short poem, its easy to think that theres not much to it, but that isnt the case. Think about what it means to have a candle that burns at both ends. Such a candle burns twice as fast as other candles.  Then, think about what a candle may represent. It could symbolize Millays erotic passions, giving the poem an entirely different context. Someone whose desires burn out twice as quickly as anothers may not make for a longtime love but is certainly more passionate than the average mate. According to the Poetry Foundation,  A Few Figs from Thistles cemented Millays reputation of  madcap youth and rebellion, provoking the disapproval of critics. The collection is known for its   flippancy, cynicism and frankness, the foundation notes. More Work by Millay While Millay made a name for herself with Figs, critics seem to think that her next poetry collection,  Second April  (1921), is a better reflection of her skills as a poet. The volume contains both free verse and sonnets, which Millay excelled at as a poet.