Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Ministry of higher Education

Prince Sattam University

RESEARCH ABOUT

Applications of First Law

of Thermodynamics
Prepared by:
‫روان فيحان شامان المطيري‬
435360478

July 2020

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Table of Contents

Background:..............................................................................3

Introduction:................................................................................3

History.........................................................................................4

Applications of 1st law of thermodynamics................................5

Thermodynamic systems.............................................................5

Heat engines................................................................................6

Refrigerators, air conditioners and heat pumps...........................7

Adiabatic process.........................................................................8

Isothermal process.......................................................................8

Constant volume process.............................................................9

Cyclic process..............................................................................9

Results and conclusion:.............................................................10

References:................................................................................11

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Background:
The First Law of Thermodynamics states that heat is a form of
energy, and thermodynamic processes are therefore subject to
the principle of conservation of energy. This means that heat
energy cannot be created or destroyed. It can, however, be
transferred from one location to another and converted to and
from other forms of energy. 
Thermodynamics is the branch of physics that deals with the
relationships between heat and other forms of energy. In
particular, it describes how thermal energy is converted to and
from other forms of energy and how it affects matter. The
fundamental principles of thermodynamics are expressed in four
laws.

Introduction:
The first law of thermodynamics thinks big: it deals with the
total amount of energy in the universe, and in particular, it states
that this total amount does not change. Put another way,
the First Law of Thermodynamics states that energy cannot be
created or destroyed. It can only be change form or be
transferred from one object to another.
This law may seem kind of abstract, but if we start to look at
examples, we’ll find that transfers and transformations of energy
take place around us all the time. For example:
 Light bulbs transform electrical energy into light energy
(radiant energy).

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 One pool ball hits another, transferring kinetic energy and
making the second ball move.
 Plants convert the energy of sunlight (radiant energy) into
chemical energy stored in organic molecules.
 You are transforming chemical energy from your last snack
into kinetic energy as you walk, breathe, and move your
finger to scroll up and down this page.
Importantly, none of these transfers is completely efficient.
Instead, in each scenario, some of the starting energy is released
as thermal energy. When it's moving from one object to another,
thermal energy is called by the more familiar name of heat. It's
obvious that glowing light bulbs generate heat in addition to
light, but moving pool balls do too (thanks to friction), as do the
inefficient chemical energy transfers of plant and animal
metabolism.

History
Scientists in the late 18th and early 19th centuries adhered
to caloric theory, first proposed by Antoine Lavoisier in 1783,
and further bolstered by the work of Sadi Carnot in 1824,
according to the American Physical Society. Caloric theory
treated heat as a kind of fluid that naturally flowed from hot to
cold regions, much as water flows from high to low places.
When this caloric fluid flowed from a hot to a cold region, it
could be converted to kinetic energy and made to do work much
as falling water could drive a water wheel. It wasn’t until

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Rudolph Clausius published "The Mechanical Theory of
Heat" in 1879 that caloric theory was finally put to rest. 

Applications of 1st law of thermodynamics

Thermodynamic systems
Thermodynamic systems are generally regarded as being
open, closed or isolated. According to the University of
California, Davis, an open system freely exchanges energy and
matter with its surroundings; a closed system exchanges energy
but not matter with its surroundings; and an isolated system does
not exchange energy or matter with its surroundings. For
example, a pot of boiling soup receives energy from the stove,
radiates heat from the pan, and emits matter in the form of
steam, which also carries away heat energy. This would be an
open system. If we put a tight lid on the pot, it would still radiate
heat energy, but it would no longer emit matter in the form of
steam. This would be a closed system. However, if we were to
pour the soup into a perfectly insulated thermos bottle and seal
the lid, there would be no energy or matter going into or out of
the system. This would be an isolated system. 
In practice, however, perfectly isolated systems cannot exist.
All systems transfer energy to their environment through
radiation no matter how well insulated they are. The soup in the
thermos will only stay hot for a few hours and will reach room
temperature by the following day. In another example, white
dwarf stars, the hot remnants of burned-out stars that no longer

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produce energy, can be insulated by light-years of near perfect
vacuum in interstellar space, yet they will eventually cool down
from several tens of thousands of degrees to near absolute zero
due to energy loss through radiation. Although this process takes
longer than the present age of the universe, there’s no stopping
it.

Heat engines
The most common practical application of the First Law is the
heat engine. Heat engines convert thermal energy into
mechanical energy and vice versa. Most heat engines fall into
the category of open systems. The basic principle of a heat
engine exploits the relationships among heat, volume and
pressure of a working fluid. This fluid is typically a gas, but in
some cases it may undergo phase changes from gas to liquid and
back to a gas during a cycle. 
When gas is heated, it expands; however, when that gas is
confined, it increases in pressure. If the bottom wall of the
confinement chamber is the top of a movable piston, this
pressure exerts a force on the surface of the piston causing it to
move downward. This movement can then be harnessed to
do work equal to the total force applied to the top of the piston
times the distance that the piston moves. 
There are numerous variations on the basic heat engine. For
instance, steam engines rely on external combustion to heat a
boiler tank containing the working fluid, typically water. The

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water is converted to steam, and the pressure is then used to
drive a piston that converts heat energy to mechanical energy.
Automobile engines, however, use internal combustion, where
liquid fuel is vaporized, mixed with air and ignited inside a
cylinder above a movable piston driving it downward. 

Refrigerators, air conditioners and heat pumps

Refrigerators and heat pumps are heat engines that convert
mechanical energy to heat. Most of these fall into the category
of closed systems. When a gas is compressed, its temperature
increases. This hot gas can then transfer heat to its surrounding
environment. Then, when the compressed gas is allowed to
expand, its temperature becomes colder than it was before it was
compressed because some of its heat energy was removed
during the hot cycle. This cold gas can then absorb heat energy
from its environment. This is the working principal behind an
air conditioner. Air conditioners don’t actually produce cold;
they remove heat. The working fluid is transferred outdoors by a
mechanical pump where it is heated by compression. Next, it
transfers that heat to the outdoor environment, usually through
an air-cooled heat exchanger. Then, it is brought back indoors,
where it is allowed to expand and cool so it can absorb heat
from the indoor air through another heat exchanger. 
A heat pump is simply an air conditioner run in reverse. The
heat from the compressed working fluid is used to warm the
building. It is then transferred outside where it expands and

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becomes cold, thereby allowing it to absorb heat from the
outside air, which even in winter is usually warmer than the cold
working fluid. 
Geothermal or ground-source air conditioning and heat pump
systems use long U-shaped tubes in deep wells or an array of
horizontal tubes buried in a large area through which the
working fluid is circulated, and heat is transferred to or from the
earth. Other systems use rivers or ocean water to heat or cool the
working fluid. 

Adiabatic process
“A process in which no heat can enter or leave the system is
called an adiabatic process.”In an adiabatic process, there is no
transfer of heat across the boundary of the system, so
Q=0.According to the first law of thermodynamics:
ΔEint=Q +W
Since
Q = 0    ,SO
ΔEint = W
The work done on the system increases the internal energy.

Isothermal process
“A process in which the temperature of the system remains
constant is called the Isothermal process.”
Since temperature remains constant in the isothermal process so
the internal energy of the gas must also remain constant so:

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ΔEint=Q +W
0=Q+W
⇒ Q =-W

Constant volume process

“The process in which volume of the system remains constant
is known as volume process.”
If the volume of a gas remains constant, the work done will be
zero, thus W=0
So, according to the first law of thermodynamics:
ΔEint =Q +W
Since W=0,SO
⇒ Q = ΔEint
In this case, all the heat that enters the gas is stored in it as
internal energy.

Cyclic process
“It is a series of processes after which system returns to its
initial state.”It is a three-step process. It is a cyclic process
because it starts and ends at the same point.
U2=U1
U2-U1=0
ΔU=0
From the first law of thermodynamics.
Free expansion
“A process in which gas goes from one side of the container
to the other half initially evacuated is called free expansion.”
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Results and conclusion:
1- Electrical energy is obtained from solar, hydroelectric,
turbine, nuclear and tidal sources. Basically it means we convert
the energy of falling water, energy of sun, wind energy, nuclear
energy and tidal energy to electrical energy. This energy is used
to produce light (conversion to light energy), run electric fans
(conversion to mechanical energy), iron clothes( conversion to
heat energy) and for other different processes it converts to other
forms of energy.
2- Plants fix the solar energy to produce carbohydrates. The
solar energy of sun is got converted to chemical energy stored in
covalent bonds. This food when taken in is converted to ATP
3- When we run, walk or does some activity, energy is used.
Even energy is using when I am typing the text and you are
scrolling the page to move from top to bottom or vice versa.
Even when you move your joint, energy is used. From where
this energy comes. This energy comes from solar energy
converted to chemical energy in food molecules, again
converted to ATP,again to mine and your muscular energy and
mechanical energy, some form of kinetic or potential energy and
so on. The energy changes never stops. These goes on.
4- First law of thermodynamics also find its applications in
heat exchangers in industries, bomb explosion and engines.
So there is no exaggeration to say that life is almost
impossible without first law of thermodynamics.

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References:
1. https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/classical-and-
quantum-thermal-physics/first-law-of-thermodynamics-and-
some-of-its-
applications/81B85C0DDEB572D4D919ECD67423693B
2. https://byjus.com/chemistry/thermodynamics/
3. https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/chemistry/first-law-of-
thermodynamics
4. https://blog.myrank.co.in/application-of-first-law-of-
thermodynamics-on-different-process-i/
5. https://www.livescience.com/50881-first-law-
thermodynamics.html
6. https://phys.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/College_Physics/Boo
k
%3A_College_Physics_(OpenStax)/15%3A_Thermodynamic
s/15.02%3A_The_First_Law_of_Thermodynamics

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