December 4, 2013
Chemistry 409
Dr. Doba Jackson
Thermodynamics within a Heat Engine Physical chemistry can be considered anything that undergoes a physical or chemical change using the underlying concepts of mathematics and physics. According to chemist Gilbert Newton Lewis, “Physical chemistry is everything that is interesting” (ACS). When you think about it, physical chemistry is all around us in the world we live in today. Some aspects of physical chemistry can even range anywhere from tropical storms to turbines, or steam engines and just about everything in between. So it’s pretty much, in some form or fashion, involved in all that we do. A major piece of physical chemistry is thermodynamics. Thermodynamics is the study of the effects of heat, work, and energy on a system (NASA). The three laws of thermodynamics really give off a better understanding of what thermodynamics really is and how it can apply to everything around us. One example of something we are constantly around that also plays a role in thermodynamics is a heat engine. Within a heat engine, lie the simplest and most true examples of what thermodynamics is really all about.
The first law of thermodynamics, also known as the conservation of energy, states that energy can neither be created nor destroyed. Which is pretty much saying that power generating processes and energy sources can convert energy from one form to another; therefore the internal energy must be a constant (engineering). For a heat engine, thermal energy is converted to mechanical work by the system. One commonly used heat engine is a basic gas powered cyclic engine such as a gas turbine. For a heat engine, such as the gas turbine, the energy or heat is converted when the combustion of the working substance, such as gas, is ignited. The heat source that ignites the combustion is done by an electric spark, known as a spark-ignition (turbivo). This causes the combustion to create a high temperature flow.
Cited: http://portal.acs.org/portal/acs/corg/content?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=PP_ARTICLEMAIN&node_id=1188&content_id=CTP_003398&use_sec=true&sec_url_var=region1&__uuid=8017a086-56bb-4132-85af-bfe3737b5bf0. ACS scientific journal. Physical Chemists. http://exploration.grc.nasa.gov/education/rocket/thermo.html http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/law-thermodynamics-d_93.html http://www.turbivo.com/en/historique2.1.2.en.php http://www.mpoweruk.com/heat_engines.htm http://physics.bu.edu/~duffy/py105/Heatengines.htmlpoweruk.com/heat_engines.htm