Work (thermodynamics)

Thermodynamic work is one of the principal kinds of process by which a thermodynamic system can interact with and transfer energy to its surroundings. This results in externally measurable macroscopic forces on the system's surroundings, which can cause mechanical work, to lift a weight, for example,[1] or cause changes in electromagnetic,[2][3][4] or gravitational[5] variables. Also, the surroundings can perform thermodynamic work on a thermodynamic system, which is measured by an opposite sign convention.

For thermodynamic work, appropriately chosen externally measured quantities are exactly matched by values of or contributions to changes in macroscopic internal state variables of the system, which always occur in conjugate pairs, for example pressure and volume[1] or magnetic flux density and magnetization.[3]

In the International System of Units (SI), work is measured in joules (symbol J). The rate at which work is performed is power, measured in joules per second, and denoted with the unit watt (W).

  1. ^ a b Kittel, C. Kroemer, H. (1980). Thermal Physics, second edition, W.H. Freeman, San Francisco, ISBN 0716710889
  2. ^ Guggenheim, E.A. (1985). Thermodynamics. An Advanced Treatment for Chemists and Physicists, seventh edition, North Holland, Amsterdam, ISBN 0444869514.
  3. ^ a b Jackson, J.D. (1975). Classical Electrodynamics, second edition, John Wiley and Sons, New York, ISBN 978-0-471-43132-9.
  4. ^ Konopinski, E.J. (1981). Electromagnetic Fields and Relativistic Particles, McGraw-Hill, New York, ISBN 007035264X.
  5. ^ North, G.R., Erukhimova, T.L. (2009). Atmospheric Thermodynamics. Elementary Physics and Chemistry, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (UK), ISBN 9780521899635.

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