Chapter 1 - Fundamental Concepts

1. Thermodynamics and Energy

2. Properties of System, State and
Equilibrium
3. Process and Cycles
4. Zeroth Law of Thermodynamics

MEC 451 – Thermodynamics

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 Thermodynamics and Energy
 Thermodynamics: The science of energy.
 Energy: The ability to cause changes.
 The name thermodynamics stems from the Greek
words therme (heat) and dynamis (power).
 Thermodynamics is the ability of heat to cause
changes
 Consists of three main Law
1. First Law Of Thermodynamics
2. Second Law Of Thermodynamics
3. Zeroth Law of Thermodynamics

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First Law of Thermodynamics
 The first law of thermodynamics: An
expression of the conservation of energy
principle.
 Conservation of energy principle:
During an interaction, energy can change
from one form to another but the total
amount of energy remains constant.
 Mathematical model
Ein – Eout = ΔEsystem
 Energy cannot be created or destroyed. It
only can be transform from one form to
another form
 The first law asserts that energy is a
thermodynamic property.

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Second Law of Thermodynamics
 It asserts that energy has quality as
well as quantity, and actual
processes occur in the direction of
decreasing quality of energy.
 Example; “a cup of hot coffee left on
a table eventually cools, but a cup of
cool coffee in the same room never
Heat flows in the
get hot by itself” direction of
 The high temperature energy of the decreasing
coffee is degraded (transform into temperature.
less useful form at a lower
temperature) once it is transferred to
the surrounding air
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Types of Thermodynamics
 Classical thermodynamics: A macroscopic
approach to the study of thermodynamics that
does not require a knowledge of the behavior of
individual particles.
 It provides a direct and easy way to the solution
of engineering problems and it is used in this
text.
 Statistical thermodynamics: A microscopic
approach, based on the average behavior of
large groups of individual particles.

MEC 451 – Thermodynamics

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SYSTEMS AND CONTROL VOLUMES

 A thermodynamics system or a system is defined as

a “quantity of matter or a region in space chosen for
study”
 Consist of 3 main components - System,
Surroundings and Boundary
 System: A quantity of matter or a region in space
chosen for study.
 Surroundings: The mass or region outside the
system
 Boundary: The real or imaginary surface that
separates the system from its surroundings.
 The boundary of a system can be fixed or movable.
Contact surface shared by both the system and the
surroundings
 Mathematically, zero thickness and thus it can
neither contain any mass nor ocupy any volume in
space.
 Systems may be considered to be closed or open.
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Closed system (Control mass)
 Also known as a control mass.
 Consists of a fixed amount of mass
and no mass can cross the boundary
i.e no mass can enter or leave a closed
system
 Only energy in the form of heat or
work can cross the boundary and the
volume does not have to be fixed
 Isolated system – energy is not
allowed to cross the boundary
 Example (approximate): coffee in a closed,
well-insulated thermos bottle

MEC 451 – Thermodynamics

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Open system (Control Volume)
 Properly selected region in space.
 Usually encloses a device that
involves mass flow such as a
compressor, turbine or nozzle.
 Both mass and energy can cross the
boundary of a control volume.
 The boundary of a control volume can
be real or imaginary
 Must defined carefully the system
under study in all thermodynamics
analyses.
An open system (a
 A large number of engineering control volume) with one
problems involves control volumes. inlet and one exit.

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Open system (Control Volume)

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Properties of the System
 Any characteristic of a system is called a
property.
 Some familiar properties are pressure P,
temperature T, volume V, and mass m.
 Can be extended to include less familiar such as
viscosity; thermal conductivity; modulus of
elasticity; velocity; acceleration etc.
 Properties are considered to be either intensive
or extensive.

MEC 451 – Thermodynamics

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Properties of the System
 Intensive properties: Those that are
independent of the mass of a system, such
as temperature, pressure, and density.
 Extensive properties: Those whose values
depend on the size—or extent—of the
system. Examples: Total mass, total
volume, and total momentum.
 To know whether a property is
intensive or extensive is to divide the
system (boundary) into two equal parts
– same value is intensive properties –
half value is extensive properties.
 Specific properties: Extensive properties
per unit mass.
MEC 451 – Thermodynamics
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STATE AND EQUILIBRIUM
 Thermodynamics deals with equilibrium states.
 State: A set of properties that completely
describes the condition of a system.
 Equilibrium: A state of balance.
 In an equilibrium state there are no unbalanced
potentials (or driving forces) within the system.
 Thermal equilibrium: If the temperature is the
same throughout the entire system. A system at two different states.
 Mechanical equilibrium: If there is no change in
pressure at any point of the system with time.
 Phase equilibrium: If a system involves two
phases and when the mass of each phase
reaches an equilibrium level and stays there.
 Chemical equilibrium: If the chemical
composition of a system does not change with
time, that is, no chemical reactions occur.
 Thermodynamic equilibrium - system that
maintains thermal, mechanical, phase and
chemical equilibriums. A closed system reaching
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The State Postulate
State postulate:
 defines the given number of properties
to a thermodynamic system in a state
of equilibrium
The state of a simple compressible
system is completely specified by two
independent, intensive properties.
 Simple compressible system: If a
system involves no electrical,
magnetic, gravitational, motion, and
surface tension effects.
The state of nitrogen is
fixed by two independent,
intensive properties.

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PROCESSES AND CYCLES
Process: Any change that a system undergoes
from one equilibrium state to another.
Path: The series of states through which a
system passes during a process.
To describe a process completely, one should
specify the initial and final states, as well as
the path it follows, and the interactions with
the surroundings.
Quasistatic or quasi-equilibrium process:
When a process proceeds in such a manner
that the system remains infinitesimally close
to an equilibrium state at all times. It is a slow
process that allows the system to adjust itself
internally so that properties in one part of the
system do not change any faster than those
at other parts.
MEC 451 – Thermodynamics
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 Process diagrams plotted by employing
thermodynamic properties as coordinates
are very useful in visualizing the processes.
 Some common properties that are used as
coordinates are temperature T, pressure P,
and volume V (or specific volume v).
 The prefix iso- is often used to designate a
process for which a particular property
remains constant.
 Isothermal process: A process during
which the temperature T remains constant.
 Isobaric process: A process during which
the pressure P remains constant.
 Isochoric (or isometric) process: A The P-V diagram of a compression
process during which the specific volume v process.
remains constant.
Property held
 Cycle: A process during which the initial and Process constant
final states are identical (it returns to its initial
isobaric pressure
state at the end of the process), e.g. Otto
cycle isothermal temperature
isochoric volume
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The Steady-Flow Process

 The term steady implies no change with

time. The opposite of steady is unsteady, or
transient.
 A large number of engineering devices
operate for long periods of time under the
same conditions, and they are classified as
steady-flow devices.
During a steady-flow process, fluid
 Steady-flow process: A process during properties within the control
which a fluid flows through a control volume volume may change with position
steadily. but not with time.
 Steady-flow conditions can be closely
approximated by devices that are intended
for continuous operation such as turbines,
pumps, boilers, condensers, and heat
exchangers or power plants or refrigeration
systems.

Under steady-flow conditions, the

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control volume remain constant.
Forms of Energy
 Exist in numerous forms such as thermal, mechanical,
kinetic, potential, electric, magnetic, chemical and
nuclear and their sum constitutes the total Energy [E] of
a system
 Thermodynamics deals only with the change of the total
energy
 Two groups of energy
i. Microscopic
ii. Macroscopic
 Microscopic Energy
Form of energy are those related to the molecular
structure of a system and the degree of the molecular
activity and they are independent of outside reference
frame. The sum of all microscopic forms of energy is
called the Internal Energy (U) of a system.
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 Macroscopic Energy
Form of energy are those a system possesses as a whole
system with respect to some outside reference frame
such as kinetic and potential energies.
The energy of a system is related to motion and the
influence of some external effects such as gravity,
magnetism, electricity and surface tension.
• Kinetic energy, KE: The energy that a system
possesses as a result of its motion relative to some
reference frame.
• Potential energy, PE: The energy that a system
possesses as a result of its elevation in a gravitational
field.

MEC 451 – Thermodynamics

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 Kinetic energy

Kinetic energy
per unit mass

Mass flow rate

Potential energy

Potential energy
per unit mass Energy flow rate

Total energy
of a system

Energy of a system
per unit mass

Total energy
per unit mass
MEC 451 – Thermodynamics
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 TEMPERATURE AND THE ZEROTH
LAW OF THERMODYNAMICS
 The zeroth law of thermodynamics: If two bodies are in thermal
equilibrium with a third body, they are also in thermal equilibrium with
each other.
 By replacing the third body with a thermometer, the zeroth law can
be restated as two bodies are in thermal equilibrium if both have the
same temperature reading even if they are not in contact.

Two bodies reaching

thermal equilibrium
after being brought
into contact in an
isolated enclosure.

MEC 451 – Thermodynamics

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Application Areas of Thermodynamics

MEC 451 – Thermodynamics

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IMPORTANCE OF DIMENSIONS
AND UNITS
 Any physical quantity can be characterized by
dimensions.
 The magnitudes assigned to the dimensions are
called units.
 Some basic dimensions such as mass m, length L,
time t, and temperature T are selected as primary
or fundamental dimensions, while others such as
velocity V, energy E, and volume V are expressed
in terms of the primary dimensions and are called
secondary dimensions, or derived dimensions.
 Metric SI system: A simple and logical system
based on a decimal relationship between the
various units.
 English system: It has no apparent systematic
numerical base, and various units in this system
are related to each other rather arbitrarily.

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Some SI and English Units

Work = Force  Distance

1 J = 1 N∙m The SI unit prefixes are used in all
1 cal = 4.1868 J branches of engineering.
1 Btu = 1.0551 kJ

The definition of the force units.

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Dimensional homogeneity
All equations must be dimensionally homogeneous.

Unity Conversion Ratios

All nonprimary units (secondary units) can be
formed by combinations of primary units.
Force units, for example, can be expressed as

They can also be expressed more conveniently

as unity conversion ratios as

To be dimensionally
homogeneous, all the
Unity conversion ratios are identically equal to 1 and terms in an equation
are unitless, and thus such ratios (or their inverses) must have the same unit.
can be inserted conveniently into any calculation to
properly convert units.
MEC 451 – Thermodynamics
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