Applications:

Bomb Calorimetry

The most common type of calorimeter used is the bomb calorimeter, designed to
measure the heat of combustion. Typically, a bomb calorimeter consists of a large
container filled with water, into which is placed a smaller container, the combustion
crucible. The crucible is made of metal, having thick walls with an opening through
which oxygen can be introduced. In addition, the combustion crucible is designed to be
connected to a source of electricity.

In conducting a calorimetric test using a bomb calorimeter, the substance or object to be

studied is placed inside the combustion crucible and ignited. The resulting reaction
usually occurs so quickly that it resembles the explosion of a bomb—hence, the name
"bomb calorimeter." Once the "bomb" goes off, the resulting transfer of heat creates a
temperature change in the water, which can be readily gauged with a thermometer.
Heat Engines

The bomb calorimeter that Berthelot designed in 1880 measured the caloric value of
fuels, and was applied to determining the thermal efficiency of a heat engine. A heat
engine is a machine that absorbs heat at a high temperature, performs mechanical work,
and as a result, gives off heat at a lower temperature.

The desire to create efficient heat engines spurred scientists to a greater understanding
of thermodynamics, and this resulted in the laws of thermodynamics.
Steam Engines

Like all heat engines (except reverse heat engines such as the refrigerator, discussed
below), a steam engine pulls heat from a high-temperature reservoir to a low-
temperature reservoir, and in the process, work is accomplished. The hot steam from
the high-temperature reservoir makes possible the accomplishment of work, and when
the energy is extracted from the steam, the steam condenses in the low-temperature
reservoir, becoming relatively cool water.

A steam engine is an external-combustion engine, as opposed to the internal-

combustion engine that took its place at the forefront of industrial technology at the
beginning of the twentieth century. Unlike an internal-combustion engine, a steam
engine burns its fuel outside the engine. That fuel may be simply firewood, which is used
to heat water and create steam. The thermal energy of the steam is then used to power a
piston moving inside a cylinder, thus, converting thermal energy to mechanical energy
for purposes such as moving a train.
Reverse Steam Engines

It is easy to understand that a steam engine is a heat engine: after all, it produces heat.
But how is it that a refrigerator, an air conditioner, and other cooling machines are also
heat engines? Moreover, given the fact that cold is the absence of heat and heat is energy,
one might ask how a refrigerator or air conditioner can possibly use energy to produce
cold, which is the same as the absence of energy. In fact, cooling machines simply
reverse the usual process by which heat engines operate, and for this reason, they are
called "reverse heat engines." Furthermore, they use energy to extract heat.

A steam engine takes heat from a high-temperature reservoir—the place where the water
is turned into steam—and uses that energy to produce work. In the process, energy is
lost and the heat moves to a low-temperature reservoir, where it condenses to form
relatively cool water. A refrigerator, on the other hand, pulls heat from a low-
temperature reservoir called the evaporator, into which flows heat from the refrigerated
compartment—the place where food and other perishables are kept. The coolant from
the evaporator take this heat to the condenser, a high-temperature reservoir at the back
of the refrigerator, and in the process it becomes a gas. Heat is released into the
surrounding air; this is why the back of a refrigerator is hot.

Instead of producing a work output, as a steam engine does, a refrigerator requires a

work input—the energy supplied via the wall outlet. The principles of thermodynamics
show that heat always flows from a high-temperature to a low-temperature reservoir,
and reverse heat engines do not defy these laws. Rather, they require an external power
source in order to effect the transfer of heat from a low-temperature reservoir, through
the gases in the evaporator, to a high-temperature reservoir.

Source: http://www.scienceclarified.com/everyday/Real-Life-Physics-Vol-2/Heat-Real-
life-applications.html#ixzz3LSf9SAaC