FACULTAD DE INGENIERÍA

Thermodynamics is a branch of physics which deals with the energy and work of a system. It
was born in the 19th century as scientists were first discovering how to build and operate steam
engines. Thermodynamics deals only with the large scale response of a system which we can
observe and measure in experiments. Small scale gas interactions are described by the kinetic
theory of gases. The methods complement each other; some principles are more easily
understood in terms of thermodynamics and some principles are more easily explained by
kinetic theory.

There are three principal laws of thermodynamics. Each law leads to the definition of
thermodynamic properties which help us to understand and predict the operation of a physical
system. We will present some simple examples of these laws and properties for a variety of
physical systems, although we are most interested in thermodynamics in the study of propulsion
systems and high speed flows. Fortunately, many of the classical examples of thermodynamics
involve gas dynamics.

The first principle is the observation that the temperature of an object can affect some physical
property of the object, such as the length of a solid, or the gas pressure in a closed vessel, or
the electrical resistance of a wire. You can explore the effects of temperature on the pressure of
a gas at the animated gas lab.

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 FACULTAD DE INGENIERÍA
The second principle is the definition of thermodynamic equilibrium between two objects. Two
objects are in thermodynamic equilibrium when they have the same temperature.

And the final principle is the observation that if two objects of different temperatures are brought
into contact with one another, they will eventually establish a thermodynamic equilibrium. The
word "eventually" is important. Insulating materials reach equilibrium after a very long time,
while conducting materials reach equilibrium very quickly.

With these three thermodynamic principles, we can construct a device for measuring
temperature, a thermometer, which assigns a number to the temperature of an object. When the
thermometer is brought into contact with another object, it quickly establishes a thermodynamic
equilibrium. By measuring the thermodynamic effect on some physical property of the
thermometer at some fixed conditions, like the boiling point and freezing point of water, we can
establish a scale for assigning temperature values.

The number assigned to the temperature depends on what we pick for the reference condition.
So several different temperature scales have arisen. The Celsius scale, designated with a C,
uses the freezing point of pure water as the zero point and the boiling point as 100 degrees with
a linear scale in between these extremes. The Fahrenheit scale, designated with an F, is a lot
more confusing. It originally used the freezing point of sea water as the zero point and the
freezing point of pure water as 30 degrees, which made the temperature of a healthy person
equal to 96 degrees. On this scale, the boiling point of pure water was 212 degrees. So
Fahrenheit adjusted the scale to make the boiling point of pure water 212 and the freezing point
of pure water 32, which gave 180 degrees between the two reference points. 180 degrees was
chosen because it is evenly divisible by 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6. On the new temperature scale, the
temperature of a healthy person is 98.6 degrees F. Because there are 100 degrees C and 180
degrees F between the same reference conditions:

1 degree C = 1 degree F * 100 / 180 = 1 degree F * 5 / 9

Since the scales start at different zero points, we can convert from the temperature on the
Fahrenheit scale (TF) to the temperature on the Celsius scale (TC) by using this equation:

TF = 32 + (9 / 5) * TC

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 FACULTAD DE INGENIERÍA
Of course, you can have temperatures below the freezing point of water and these are assigned
negative numbers. When scientists began to study the coldest possible temperature, they
determined an absolute zero at which molecular kinetic energy is a minimum (but not strictly
zero!). They found this value to be at -273.16 degrees C. Using this point as the new zero point
we can define another temperature scale called the absolute temperature. If we keep the size of
a single degree to be the same as the Celsius scale, we get a temperature scale which has
been named after Lord Kelvin and designated with a K. Then:

K = C + 273.16

There is a similar absolute temperature corresponding to the Fahrenheit degree. It is named

after the scientist Rankine and designated with an R.

R = F + 459.69

What is Thermodynamics. Recuperado en febrero 2022 de https://www.grc.nasa.gov/www/k-

12/airplane/thermo.html

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