Chapter 1:

Introduction

©McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. Authorized only for instructor use in the classroom. No reproduction or further distribution permitted without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
 1.1: The Scope of Thermodynamics
• The science of thermodynamics was developed in the 19th
century to describe the basic operating principles of the newly
invented steam engine
• From the study of steam engines emerged the First and
Second Laws of Thermodynamics
– The First Law simply says that energy is conserved
– The Second Law is more difficult to interpret because it depends upon
the abstract concept of entropy (to be discussed in Chapter 5)

• The two laws have no proof in the mathematical sense;

however, they are universally observed to be obeyed
• Combining the two laws with material property data allows
one to produce useful predictions and analyses

©McGraw-Hill Education.
 Figure 1.1: Summary of the Course

©McGraw-Hill Education.
 1.2: International System of Units
• The primary units of measurement are set by international
agreement and codified as the International System of Units
(abbreviated SI)
– The base unit of time is the second, s
– The base unit of length is the meter, m
– The base unit of mass is the kilogram, kg
– The temperature unit is the Kelvin, K
– The unit defining the amount of material is the mole, mol

• The prefixes associated with orders of magnitude are listed in

Table 1.1 on the following slide

©McGraw-Hill Education.
 Table 1.1: Prefixes for SI Units
Multiple Prefix Symbol
10-15 femto f
10-12 pico p
10-9 nano n
10-6 micro µ
10-3 milli m
10-2 centi c
102 hecto h
103 kilo k
106 mega M
109 giga G
1012 tera T
1015 peta P

©McGraw-Hill Education.
 1.3: Measures of Amount or Size
• Measures of amount or size in common use:
– Mass, m − Total Volume, Vt
– Number of moles, n

• Relating mass & moles: n = m/ℳ or m = ℳn

– Where ℳ is the molar mass (formerly called molecular weight)

• Specific Volume: V = Vt/m or Vt = mV

• Specific Density: ρ = m/Vt
• Molar Volume: V = Vt/n or Vt = nV
• Specific Density: ρ = n/Vt
• Note that the same symbols are used for molar and specific
quantities; doing otherwise doubles the number of symbols
©McGraw-Hill Education.
 1.4: Temperature
• Historically, temperature was measured with liquid in-glass
thermometers; as the fluid expands, the temperature can be
read from the length of a fluid column
• Temperature scales:
– Celsius, °C, calibrated as 0°C for freezing water and 100°C for boiling
water, both at 1 atm; relative temperature, symbol t
– Kelvin (absolute temperature, T): T K = t °C + 273.15
– Rankine (alternate absolute temperature scale): T (R) = 1.8 T K
– Fahrenheit (relative temperature, related to Rankine):
t (°F) = T (R) – 459.67
– Relating Fahrenheit to Celsius: t (°F) = 1.8 t (°C) + 32

©McGraw-Hill Education.
 Force
• SI unit for force is the newton, N
– Force is defined as mass × acceleration
– 1 Newton is equivalent to 1 kg m s-2

• In the U.S. customary system of units, force is an additional

independent dimension along with time, length, and mass
– The pound force (lbf) is defined as the force that accelerates 1 lb mass
(lbm) by 32.1740 feet per second per second
– This requires a proportionality constant for Newton’s Law
1
𝐹= 𝑚𝑎
𝑔𝑐
𝑔𝑐 = 32.1740 lbm (ft) lbf −1 s −2

©McGraw-Hill Education.
 1.5: Pressure
• Pressure, P, exerted by a fluid on a surface is defined as the
normal force exerted by the fluid per unit area of the surface
• P = F/A
• The SI unit for pressure is the pascal, Pa, equivalent to N m-2
• Pressure in alternate units is often measured simply as:
– A force per area (pounds per square inch, psi)
– Height of a vertical fluid column (mm Hg, cm H2O)
– Multiples of atmospheric pressure (atm)

• Gauge Pressure = difference between pressure of interest and

atmospheric pressure
• Absolute Pressure = gauge pressure + atmospheric pressure

©McGraw-Hill Education.
 1.6: Work
• Work, W, is performed whenever a force acts through a
distance, as defined by: dW = F dl (1.2)
• Can be re-written in terms of pressure and total volume:
dW = - P dVt (1.3)
• By convention (in this text), work is positive when
displacement is in the same direction as force;
• Alternatively, work is positive when done on the system by
the surroundings; negative when done by the system
– Simply put, when work adds energy to the system = (+)
– When work removes energy from the system = (-)

©McGraw-Hill Education.
 1.6: Work (Continued)
• Because integration of Eqn. (1.2) yields W = -∫P dVt, work
can be described as the (negative) area under a curve on a P-V
diagram

©McGraw-Hill Education.
 1.7: Energy
• Can take many forms; 2 examples:
– Kinetic (energy of motion): EK = 0.5 mu2
– Potential (potential to do work): EP = mzg
• Energy is conserved for all purely mechanical processes
• The SI unit for energy (as well as work and heat) is the joule, J,
equal to a Newton-meter, N m, or kg m2 s-2

• The rate of energy transport, or power, has the SI unit of

Watts, W, or J s-1

©McGraw-Hill Education.
 1.8: Heat
• When a hot object is brought into contact with a cold object,
the hot object cools and the cold object warms
• The energy transferred from the hot to the cold object is
defined as heat, Q
• Heat always flows (naturally) from a higher temperature to a
lower one, leading to the concept of temperature as a driving
force for heat transfer

• Heat, Q, has the same units as work and energy

©McGraw-Hill Education.