Thermodynamics Test and Flashcards

Thermodynamics

Thermodynamics is a branch of physics concerned with heat and temperature and their relation to energy and work.

Calorie

A calorie is a unit of energy

Closed-system

A physical system that doesn't exchange any matter with its surroundings, and isn't subject to any force whose source is external to the system.

Conduction

Conduction is the transfer of heat by microscopic collisions of particles and movement of electrons within a body.

Convection

Convection is the heat transfer due to bulk movement of molecules within fluids such as gases and liquids, including molten rock.

Fahrenheit

The Fahrenheit scale is a temperature scale based on one proposed in 1724 by Amsterdam-based physicist Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit, after whom the scale is named.

Gas

an airlike fluid substance which expands freely to fill any space available, irrespective of its quantity.

Heat

the quality of being hot; high temperature.

Insulator

a thing or substance used for insulation, in particular.

Kelvin

The absolute thermodynamic temperature scale using as its null point absolute zero, the temperature at which all thermal motion ceases in the classical description of thermodynamics.

Kinetic Energy

Energy that a body possesses by virtue of being in motion.

Latent Heat

The heat required to convert a solid into a liquid or vapor, or a liquid into a vapor, without change of temperature.

Liquid

A nearly incompressible fluid that conforms to the shape of its container but retains a constant volume independent of pressure.

Open-system

A system that freely exchanges energy and matter with its surroundings

Phase Change

When a substance absorbs heat without an increase in temperature by changing from one physical state (or phase) to another, as from a solid to a liquid (melting), from a solid to a vapour (sublimation), from a liquid to a vapour (boiling), or from one solid form to another (usually called a crystalline.

Potential Energy

The energy possessed by an object because of its position relative to other objects, stresses within itself, its electric charge, or other factors.

Radiation

The emission or transmission of energy in the form of waves or particles through space or through a material medium.

Solid

firm and stable in shape.

Specific Heat

The amount of heat per unit mass required to raise the temperature by one degree Celsius.

Temperature

the degree or intensity of heat present in a substance or object, especially as expressed according to a comparative scale and shown by a thermometer or perceived by touch.

Thermal Energy

The internal energy present in a system due to its temperature.

Thermal Equilibrium

Two physical systems are in thermal equilibrium if no heat flows between them when they are connected by a path permeable to heat.

Flashcards: Thermodynamics