Thermodynamics I

Course contents

Fundamentals of thermodynamics:
- Formalism and basic quantities (temperature, volume, entropy, pressure, chemical potential and number of particles)
- Thermodynamic potentials (U, A, H, G)
- Maxwell relations
- Heat capacity
- Equilibria, states and processes
- Work and heat

The ideal gas equation:
- Preliminary work on the ideal gas equation (Boyle-Mariotte's law, Charles' law, Amonton's law, Avogadro's theorem)
- Isoprocesses with an ideal gas

Quasi-static processes with an ideal gas:
- Calculation of ∆U, ∆W, ∆Q and ∆S for isothermal, isobaric, isochoric and adiabatic process steps
- Holistic view of cyclic processes
- The Carnot process as a comparative process

Real gases:
- Van der Waals equation and virial approach
- Joule-Thomson effect, inversion temperature and critical compression factor
- Critical quantities
- Concepts of matching states
- Further equations of state (Redlich-Kwong equation, Soave-Redlich-Kwong equation, Peng-Robinson equation)

Main laws of thermodynamics;
- Formulations of the four main theorems
- Significance for thermodynamics in general
- Statistical validation of the 2nd law

Phase equilibria:
- Single-component multiphase system
- Dalton's law
- Raoult's law
- Henry's law
- Freezing point depression and boiling point elevation in solutions (cryoscopy and ebullioscopy)
- log(p), H diagram
- How a refrigerator works

Department

Bachelor's program Environmental, Process & Energy Engineering