Introduction

These considerations should give you some idea of the potential range of applications possible within the general study of thermodynamics. This text will try to find a happy medium. One general unifying principle about the perspective offered by thermodynamics is that there are certain properties that are invariant with respect to time. For example, the process of diffusion may indicate some changes in the system with time, but the diffusion coefficient is a property which only depends on a temperature, density, and composition profile. A thermodynamicist would consider the diffusion process as something straightforward given the diffusion coefficient, and focus on understanding the diffusion coefficient. A transport specialist would just estimate the diffusion coefficient as best as he could and get on with it. A kineticist would want to know how fast the diffusion was relative to other processes involved. In more down-to-earth terms, if we were touring about the countryside, the thermodynamicists would want to know where we were going, the transport specialists would want to know how long it takes to get there, and the kineticists would want to know how fast the fuel was running out.

In thermodynamics we utilize a few basic concepts: energy, entropy, and equilibrium. The ways in which these are related to one another and to temperature, pressure, and density are best understood in terms of the connections provided by molecular mechanisms. These connections, in turn, can be summarized by the thermodynamic model (e.g., ideal gas), our quantitative description of the substance. Showing how energy and entropy couple with molecular characteristics to impact chemical process applications is the primary goal of this text. These insights should stick with you long after you have forgotten how to estimate any particular thermodynamic property, a heat capacity or activity coefficient, for example. We will see how assuming a thermodynamic model and applying the rules of thermodynamics leads to precise and extremely general insights relevant to many applications. A general theme throughout the text (and arguably throughout engineering) is: observe, predict, test, and evaluate. The prediction phase usually involves a model equation. Testing and evaluation expose limitations of the prospective model, which leads to a new cycle of observation, prediction… We terminate this hierarchy at an introductory level, but it never really ends. Extending this hierarchy is the source of innovation that must serve you for the next 50 years.

Chapter Objectives: You Should Be Able to…

1. Explain the definitions and relations between temperature, molecular kinetic energy, molecular potential energy and macroscopic internal energy, including the role of intermolecular potential energy and how it is modeled. Explain why the ideal gas internal energy depends only on temperature.

2. Explain the molecular origin of pressure.

3. Apply the vocabulary of thermodynamics with words such as the following: work, quality, interpolation, sink/reservoir, absolute temperature, open/closed system, intensive/extensive property, subcooled, saturated, superheated.

4. Explain the advantages and limitations of the ideal gas model.

5. Sketch and interpret paths on a P-V diagram.

6. Perform steam table computations like quality determination, double interpolation.