Order Disorder

Looking at earth from above we see how successful engineers have been at harnessing and manipulating energy and how important it has been to our existence. Energy is vital to us all. We use it to build the structures that protect us all. We use it to power or vehicles and light our homes. The first major advance in human understanding of energy was the mastery of fire. Fire use to cook food and heat dwellings, using wood as the fuel, dates back at least 400,000 years. Eventually led to ovens for making pottery, and the refining of metals from ore. The first evidence of coal being burned as a fuel dates back approximately 2,400 years. Carnot analyzed how fire and heat engines worked and is the foundations of the modern heat engine. Building on the work of celebrated French physicist Nicolas Lonard Sadi Carnot (1796-1832), William Thomson (1824-1907) formulated the first concise definition of thermodynamics, which is the study of how heat and temperature relate to energy and work. In this context, thermodynamics often focuses on entropy, which is a decline into gradual disorder or a measure of how much energy is not available to do work. Thermodynamics is based on four laws that are uniformly valid in their respective contexts: Zeroth Law: When two systems are respectively in thermal equilibrium with a third system, this means that they are likewise in thermal equilibrium with each other. First Law: An isolated systems internal energy is constant. Second Law: Heat does not spontaneously flow from a given location to a location that is hotter. Third Law: As a systems temperature gets closer to absolute zero, the processes within it begin to stop and the systems entropy reaches its minimum value. In addition, there are four branches to thermodynamics: classical thermodynamics, statistical mechanics, chemical thermodynamics, and equilibrium thermodynamics. The purpose of this assignment is to make connections between entropy, energy, and work. To achieve this, you will define energy and explain why it is useful to us. You will also discuss how engineers transform energy from the environment into forms useful for human endeavors. This will require that you explain both thermodynamics, and entropy. In this context, you may provide a brief history of thermodynamics, but this is not required. You will also outline each of the four laws and provide explanations and examples of each. You will then outline and define the four branches of thermodynamics. In this outline, you will include: a list of the methodological approaches used in conjunction with each branch, a list the theories associated with each branch, the contributions each branch makes to the understanding of thermodynamics, any perceived limitations to each of the branches, and an explanation of how entropy is understood/explained in each respective branch. Your conclusion will summarize your key points and explain the importance of understanding thermodynamics in the contemporary world. As this paper is more of a report than an essay, an overt argument is not required. When looking for sources to support your paper, consider including some of the following historic figures: Gottfried Leibniz Denis Papin James Watt Nicholas Leonard Sadi Carnot Rudolf Clausius Ludwig Boltzmann