Question

He first law of thermodynamics helps us understand the relationships among which three quantities?

a) Heat, energy, and work.

b) Temperature, pressure, and volume.

c) Mass, velocity, and acceleration.

d) Entropy, temperature, and internal energy.

Answer 1

The first law of thermodynamics relates heat, work, and internal energy. It states that the change in a system's internal energy equals the heat added to the system minus the work done by the system, which follows the conservation of energy principle.

Step-by-step explanation:

The first law of thermodynamics is a fundamental principle in physics that helps us understand the relationships among heat, work, and internal energy. It is essentially the law of conservation of energy applied to thermal systems, stating that the change in internal energy of a system (ΔU) is equal to the heat (q) added to the system minus the work (w) done by the system. A concise way to represent this relationship is the equation: ΔU = q + w, where a positive q indicates heat flow into the system, and a positive w denotes work done on the system.

This foundational concept explains how energy transfers occur within a given system through various processes. When a system undergoes any thermodynamic process, heat may be transferred to or from the environment, and the system can perform or have work performed on it, resulting in a change in the internal energy of the system.