CHEM102 Lecture Notes - State Function, Internal Energy, Horse Length

• School: University of Alberta
• Department: Chemistry
• Course: CHEM102
• Professor: Sai Yiu

Document Summary

The concepts in thermodynamics can be applied to different branches of science such as physics, chemistry, biology, engineering etc. In chemistry, it provides rules and predictions that govern chemical and physical transitions. Nature of energy: a system is that part of the region of interest. For example, a gas inside a container, a biological cell, a reaction mixture inside a flask: the surroundings are regions outside the system. An open system exchange of matter and energy with the surroundings are allowed. A closed system exchange of energy with the surroundings only. An isolated system neither matter nor energy exchange with the surroundings. The flow of energy between system and surroundings are in two forms: heat, q, which is the flow of energy between two objects due to a difference in temperature. Calorie (cal: work, w, force acting over a distance. It becomes compression and expansion for gaseous system (p v work).