CHAPTER 1

Basic Concepts of
Thermodynamics

Lecture by: FITSUM FEKADU (Capt.)

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1.1 Thermodynamics: Definition and meanings
• Thermodynamics can be defined as the science of energy.
Although everybody has a feeling of what energy is, it is
difficult to give a precise definition for it. Energy can be
viewed as the ability to cause changes.
• The name thermodynamics stems from the Greek words
thermo (heat) and dynamics (power), which is most descriptive
of the early efforts to convert heat into power. Today the same
name is broadly interpreted to include all aspects of energy
and energy transformations, including power generation,
refrigeration, and relationships among the properties of
matter.
• One of the most fundamental laws of nature is the
conservation of energy principle. It simply states that
during an interaction, energy can change from one form to
another but the total amount of energy remains constant.
That is, energy cannot be created or destroyed.
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• The study of thermodynamics is concerned with ways energy is
stored within a body and how energy transformations, which
involve heat and work, may take place.
• Approaches to studying thermodynamics
– Macroscopic (Classical thermodynamics)
• study large number of particles (molecules) that make up
the substance in question
• does not require knowledge of the behavior of individual
molecules
– Microscopic (Statistical thermodynamics)
• concerned within behavior of individual particles
(molecules)
• study average behavior of large groups of individual
particles

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1-1

Applications of Thermodynamics

The human body

Air-conditioning Airplanes
systems

Car radiators Power plants Refrigeration systems

Fig. 1.1 application of thermodynamics

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Thermodynamic Systems and control volume
Fig. 1.2 System, surroundings,
and boundary
•Thermodynamic System
– quantity of matter or a
region of space chosen for
study
•Boundary
– real or imaginary layer that
separates the system from
its surroundings
•Surroundings
– physical space outside the
system boundary
• Types of Systems
– Closed
– Open
 1-2
a) Closed Systems (fixed masses)

• Systems may be considered to be closed or open,

depending on whether a fixed mass or a fixed volume
in space is chosen for study
• A closed system (also known as a control mass)
consists of a fixed amount of mass, and no mass
can cross its boundary. That is, no mass can enter or
leave a closed system, as shown in Fig. 1.3 and1.4
• But energy, in the form of heat or work, can cross the
boundary; and the volume of a closed system does not
have to be fixed. If, as a special case, even energy is
not allowed to cross the boundary, that system is
called an isolated system.

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Fig. 1.3 Mass cannot cross Fig. 1.4 A closed system
the boundaries of a closed with a moving boundary.
system, but energy can.
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 1-4

b) Open Systems (Control Volumes)

• An open system, or a control volume, as it is

often called, is a properly selected region in space.
It usually encloses a device that involves mass flow
such as a compressor, turbine, or nozzle.
• A large number of engineering problems involve mass
flow in and out of a system and, therefore, are
modeled as control volumes.
• The boundaries of a control volume are called a control
surface, and they can be real or imaginary.
• A control volume can be fixed in size and shape, as in
the case of a nozzle, or it may involve a moving
boundary.

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 Fig. 1.5 A control volume
with fixed and moving
boundaries

Fig. 1.6 A control volume with real

and imaginary boundaries 9
c) Isolated System
• Closed system where no heat or work (energy) may
cross the system boundary
– typically a collection of the a main system (or
several systems) and its surroundings is
considered an isolated system
Isolated system boundary

work system
mass
Surr 1 heat

Surr 2 Surr 3

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 Thermodynamic Properties
• Any characteristic of a system in equilibrium is called a
property. Some familiar properties are pressure P,
temperature T, volume V, and mass m.
• Properties are considered to be either intensive or
extensive.
• Intensive properties - are independent of the size (mass)
of the system. Examples: temperature, pressure, color

• Extensive properties - vary directly with the size of the

system. Examples: volume, mass, total energy
• Extensive properties per unit mass are intensive
properties.
specific volume v = Volume/Mass = V/m
density r = Mass/Volume = m/V
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 State & Equilibrium
• State of a system
– system that is not undergoing any change
– all properties of system are known & are not
changing
– if one property changes then the state of the
system changes
• Thermodynamic equilibrium
– “equilibrium” - state of balance
– A system is in equilibrium if it maintains thermal
(uniform temperature), mechanical (uniform
pressure), phase (mass of two phases), and
chemical (no reaction) equilibrium.

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 Processes & cycle
• Process
– when a system changes from one equilibrium state
to another one
– some special processes:
• isobaric process - constant pressure process
• isothermal process - constant temperature process
• isochoric process - constant volume process
• isentropic process - constant entropy process
• Path
– series of states which a system passes through
during a process

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 • State Postulate
– The thermodynamic state of a simple compressible
substance is completely specified by two independent
intensive properties.
• Cycles
– A process (or a series of connected processes) with
identical end states

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P Process
B

1
Process
A

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1-7

Fig 1.7 The P-V diagram of a compression process.

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1-6
Quasi-Equilibrium Processes
• When a process proceeds in such a manner that the
system remains infinitesimally close to an
equilibrium state at all times, it is called a quasi-
static, or quasi-equilibrium process.
• System remains practically in equilibrium at all
times.
• A quasi-equilibrium process can be viewed as a
sufficiently slow process that allows the system to adjust
itself internally so that properties in one part of the
system do not change any faster than those at other parts.
• When a gas in a piston-cylinder device is compressed
suddenly, the molecules near the face of the piston will
not have enough time to escape and they will have to pile
up in a small region in front of the piston, thus creating a
high-pressure region there.
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 Fig. 1.8 Quasi-equilibrium and non-quasi-equilibrium
compression processes.
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Steady flow processes
• The terms steady and uniform are used frequently in
engineering, and thus it is important to have a clear
understanding of their meanings.
• The term steady implies no change with time. The opposite of
steady is unsteady, or transient. The term uniform, however,
implies no change with location over a specified region. These
meanings are consistent with their everyday use (steady
girlfriend, uniform properties, etc.).
• large number of engineering devices operate for long periods
of time under the same conditions, and they are classified as
steady-flow devices. Processes involving such devices can be
represented reasonably well by a somewhat idealized process,
called the steady-flow process, which can be defined as a
process during which a fluid flows through a control volume
steadily.

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Fig 1.9 During a steady-flow process, fluid properties within the
control volume may change with position but not with time.
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 Zeroth Low of thermodynamics
• Although we are familiar with temperature as a measure of
“hotness” or “coldness,” it is not easy to give an exact
definition for it. Based on our physiological sensations, we
express the level of temperature qualitatively with words
like freezing cold, cold, warm, hot, and red-hot. However, we
cannot assign numerical values to temperatures based on
our sensations alone.
• Furthermore, our senses may be misleading. A metal chair,
for example, will feel much colder than a wooden one even
when both are at the same temperature.
• The zeroth law of thermodynamics states that if two
bodies are in thermal equilibrium with a third body, they
are also in thermal equilibrium with each other.

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Measurement of temperature, pressure,
density & specific gravity.
• Temperature scales enable us to use a common basis for
temperature measurements, and several have been
introduced throughout history. All temperature scales are
based on some easily reproducible states such as the freezing
and boiling points of water, which are also called the ice point
and the steam point, respectively.
• The Kelvin scale is related to the Celsius scale by
(1.1)
• The Rankin scale is related to the Fahrenheit scale by
(1.2)
• The temperature scales in the two unit systems are related
by
(1.3)

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 Density and Specific Gravity
• Density is defined as mass per unit volume.

(1.4)
• The reciprocal of density is the specific volume v, which
is defined as volume per unit mass. That is,

(1.5)
• For a differential volume element of mass dm and volume
dV, density can be expressed as r = dm/dV.
• The density of a substance, in general, depends on
temperature and pressure. The density of most gases is
proportional to pressure and inversely proportional to
temperature.

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 PRESSURE
• Pressure is defined as a normal force exerted by a fluid per
unit area. We speak of pressure only when we deal with a
gas or a liquid. The counterpart of pressure in solids is
normal stress. Since pressure is defined as force per unit
area, it has the unit of newton per square meter (N/m2),
which is called a Pascal (Pa). That is,
(1.6)
• The actual pressure at a given position is called the
absolute pressure, and it is measured relative to absolute
vacuum (i.e., absolute zero pressure).
• Pressures below atmospheric pressure are called vacuum
pressures and are measured by vacuum gages that indicate
the difference between the atmospheric pressure and the
absolute pressure. Absolute, gage, and vacuum pressures
are all positive quantities and are related to each other by

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 (1.7)

Fig. 1.10 Absolute, gage, and vacuum pressures

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Variation of Pressure with Depth
• The Pressure will not change in the horizontal direction.
This can be shown easily by considering a thin horizontal
layer of fluid and doing a force balance in any horizontal
direction. However, this is not the case in the vertical
direction in a gravity field. Pressure in a fluid increases
with depth because more fluid rests on deeper layers, and
the effect of this “extra weight” on a deeper layer is
balanced by an increase in pressure (Fig. 1. 11).
• To obtain a relation for the variation of pressure with
depth, consider a rectangular fluid element of height ∆z,
length ∆x, and unit depth (into the page) in equilibrium
(Fig.1 12).
• Assuming the density of the fluid r to be constant, a force
balance in the vertical z-direction gives
(1.8)

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Fig. 1.11 The pressure of a fluid Fig. 1.12 Free-body diagram of a
at rest increases with depth (as rectangular fluid element in
a result of added weight). equilibrium

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• where W = mg= rg∆x∆z is the weight of the fluid element.
Dividing by ∆x and rearranging gives
(1.9)
• If we take point 1 to be at the free surface of a liquid open to
the atmosphere (Fig. 1–13), where the pressure is the
atmospheric pressure Patm, then the pressure at a depth h
from the free surface becomes
(1.10)
• When the variation of density with elevation is known, the
pressure difference between points 1 and 2 can be
determined by integration to be

(1.11)

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Fig. 1.13 Pressure in a liquid at rest increases linearly with
distance from the free surface.
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The Manometer
• We notice from Eq. 1.9 that an
elevation change of z in a fluid
at rest corresponds to ∆P/rg,
which suggests that a fluid
column can be used to
measure pressure differences.
A device based on this
principle is called a
manometer.
• Consider the manometer
shown in Fig. 1–14 that is
used to measure the pressure Fig. 1.14 The basic
in the tank. manometer

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Many engineering problems and
some manometers involve multiple
immiscible fluids of different
densities stacked on top of each
other. Such systems can be
analyzed easily by remembering
that (1) the pressure change across
a fluid column of height h is
∆P=rgh, (2) pressure increases
downward in a given fluid and
decreases upward (i.e., Pbottom >
Ptop), and (3) two points at the
same elevation in a continuous
fluid at rest are at the same Fig. 1.15 In stacked-up
pressure. fluid layers, the pressure
change across a fluid layer
of density r and height h is
rgh.
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