McGraw-Hill OnlineMcGraw-Hill Higher EducationLearning Center
Student Center | Instructor Center | Information Center | Home
Full Text Glossary
EES Software
Errata
Student Survival Guide
B.E.S.T. Series
A Sightseer's Guide
Other Çengel Texts
Çengel Learning Objectives
Chapter Outline
Chapter Summary
Chapter Glossary
Chapter Study Guide
Multiple Choice Quiz
Flashcards
Crossword Puzzle
Feedback
Help Center


Thermodynamics: An Engineering Approach, 4/e
Yunus A. Çengel, University of Nevada, Reno
Michael A. Boles, North Carolina State University

Basic Concepts of Thermodynamics

Chapter Glossary


Absolute pressure  is the actual pressure at a given position and it is measured relative to absolute vacuum (i.e., absolute zero pressure). Throughout this text, the pressure P will denote absolute pressure unless specified otherwise.
Bar  is the unit of pressure equal to 105 pascal.
Barometer  is a device that measures the atmospheric pressure; thus, the atmospheric pressure is often referred to as the barometric pressure.
Boundary  is the real or imaginary surface that separates the system from its surroundings. The boundary of a system can be fixed or movable.
Bourdon tube  named after the French inventor Eugene Bourdon, is a type of commonly used mechanical pressure measurement device which consists of a hollow metal tube bent like a hook whose end is closed and connected to a dial indicator needle.
British thermal unit  (Btu) is the energy unit in the English system needed to raise the temperature of 1 lbm of water at 68 °F by 1°F.
Calorie  (cal) is the amount of energy in the metric system needed to raise the temperature of 1 g of water at 15 °C by 1°C.
Celsius scale  (formerly called the centigrade scale; in 1948 it was renamed after the Swedish astronomer A. Celsius, 1701-1744, who devised it) is the temperature scale used in the SI system. On the Celsius scale, the ice and steam points are assigned the values of 0 and 100 °C, respectively.
Chemical energy  is the internal energy associated with the atomic bonds in a molecule.
Chemical equilibrium  is established in a system when its chemical composition does not change with time.
Classical thermodynamics  is the macroscopic approach to the study of thermodynamics that does not require knowledge of the behavior of individual particles.
Closed system  (also known as a control mass) consists of a fixed amount of mass, and no mass can cross its boundary. But energy, in the form of heat or work, can cross the boundary.
Continuum  is a view of mass as continuous, homogeneous matter with no holes. Matter is made up of atoms that are widely spaced in the gas phase. Yet it is very convenient to disregard the atomic nature of a substance. The continuum idealization allows us to treat properties as point functions, and to assume the properties to vary continually in space with no jump discontinuities. This idealization is valid as long as the size of the system we deal with is large relative to the space between the molecules. This is the case practically in all problems, except some specialized ones.
Control surface  is the boundary of a control volume, and it can be real or imaginary.
Control volume, or open system  is any arbitrary region in space through which mass and energy can pass across the boundary. Most control volumes have fixed boundaries and thus do not involve any moving boundaries. A control volume may also involve heat and work interactions just as a closed system, in addition to mass interaction.
Cycle  is a process, or series of processes, that allows a system to undergo state changes and returns the system to the initial state at the end of the process. That is, for a cycle the initial and final states are identical.
Density  is defined as mass per unit volume.
Dimensionally homogeneous  means that every term in an equation must have the same unit. To make sure that all terms in an engineering equation have the same units is the simplest error check one can perform.
Dimensions  are any physical characterizations of a quantity.
English system  which is also known as the United States Customary System (USCS), has the respective units the pound-mass (lbm), foot (ft), and second (s). The pound symbol lb is actually the abbreviation of libra, which was the ancient Roman unit of weight.
Equilibrium  implies a state of balance. In an equilibrium state there are no unbalanced potentials (or driving forces) within the system. A system in equilibrium experiences no changes when it is isolated from its surroundings.
Extensive properties  are those whose values depend on the size-or extent-of the system. Mass m, volume V, and total energy E are some examples of extensive properties.
Fahrenheit scale  (named after the German instrument maker G. Fahrenheit, 1686-1736) is the temperature scale in the English system. On the Fahrenheit scale, the ice and steam points are assigned 32 and 212 °F.
Gage pressure  is the difference between the absolute pressure and the local atmospheric pressure.
Gravitational acceleration  g is 9.807 m/s2 at sea level and varies by less than 1 percent up to 30,000 m. Therefore, g can be assumed to be constant at 9.81 m/s2.
Ideal gas temperature scale  is a temperature scale that turns out to be identical to the Kelvin scale. The temperatures on this scale are measured using a constant-volume gas thermometer, which is basically a rigid vessel filled with a gas, usually hydrogen or helium, at low pressure.
Incompressible substances  such as liquids and solids, have densities that have negligible variation with pressure.
Independent properties  exist when one property can be varied while another property is held constant.
Intensive properties  are those that are independent of the size of a system, such as temperature, pressure, and density.
Internal energy  U of a system is the sum of all the microscopic forms of energy.
Iso  prefix is often used to designate a process for which a particular property remains constant.
Isobaric process  is a process during which the pressure P remains constant.
Isochoric (or isometric) process  is a process during which the specific volume v remains constant.
Isolated system  is a closed system in which energy is not allowed to cross the boundary.
Isothermal process  is a process during which the temperature T remains constant.
Joule  (J) is a unit of energy and has the unit "newton-meter (N·m)."
Kelvin scale  is the thermodynamic temperature scale in the SI and is named after Lord Kelvin (1824-1907). The temperature unit on this scale is the kelvin, which is designated by K (not °K; the degree symbol was officially dropped from kelvin in 1967). The lowest temperature on the Kelvin scale is 0 K.
Kilojoule  (1 kJ) is 1000 joules.
Kilopascal  (kPa) is the unit of pressure equal to 1000 pascal or 1000 N/m2.
Kinetic energy  KE is energy that a system possesses as a result of its motion relative to some reference frame. When all parts of a system move with the same velocity, the kinetic energy is expressed as KE = m V2/2.
Latent energy  is the internal energy associated with the phase of a system.
Macroscopic  forms of energy are those a system possesses as a whole with respect to some outside reference frame, such as kinetic and potential energies.
Manometer  is a device based on the principle that an elevation change of Δ z of a fluid corresponds to a pressure change of ΔP/ ρg, which suggests that a fluid column can be used to measure pressure differences. The manometer is commonly used to measure small and moderate pressure differences.
Mechanical equilibrium  is related to pressure, and a system is in mechanical equilibrium if there is no change in pressure at any point of the system with time.
Megapascal  (MPa) is the unit of pressure equal to 106 pascal.
Metric SI  (from Le System International d' Unit), which is also known as the International System, is based on six fundamental dimensions. Their units, adopted in 1954 at the Tenth General Conference of Weights and Measures, are: meter (m) for length, kilogram (kg) for mass, second (s) for time, ampere (A) for electric current, degree Kelvin (K) for temperature, candela (cd) for luminous intensity (amount of light), and mole (mol) for the amount of matter.
Microscopic  forms of energy are those related to the molecular structure of a system and the degree of the molecular activity, and they are independent of outside reference frames.
Newton (N)  in SI, is the force unit defined as the force required to accelerate a mass of 1 kg at a rate of 1 m/s2.
Nuclear energy  is the tremendous amount of energy associated with the strong bonds within the nucleus of the atom itself.
Open system or control volume  is any arbitrary region in space through which mass and energy can pass across the boundary.
Pascal  (Pa) is the unit of pressure defined as newtons per square meter (N/m2 ).
Pascal's law  allows us to "jump" from one fluid column to the next in manometers without worrying about pressure change as long as we don't jump over a different fluid, and the fluid is at rest.
Pascal's principle  after Blaise Pascal (1623-1662), states that the consequence of the pressure in a fluid remaining constant in the horizontal direction is that the pressure applied to a confined fluid increases the pressure throughout by the same amount.
Path of a process  is the series of states through which a system passes during a process.
Phase equilibrium  when a system involves two phases is established when the mass of each phase reaches an equilibrium level and stays there.
Piezoelectric (or press-electric) effect  is the emergence of an electric potential in a crystalline substance when subjected to mechanical pressure. This phenomenon, first discovered by brothers Pierre and Jacques Curie in 1880, forms the basis for the widely used strain-gage pressure transducers.
Potential energy  PE is the energy that a system possesses as a result of its elevation in a gravitational field and is expressed as PE = mgz.
Pound-force (lbf)  in the English system, is the force unit defined as the force required to accelerate a mass of 32.174 lbm (1 slug) at a rate of 1 ft/s2.
Pressure  is defined as the force exerted by a fluid per unit area.
Pressure transducers  are made of semiconductor materials such as silicon and convert the pressure effect to an electrical effect such as a change in voltage, resistance, or capacitance. Pressure transducers are smaller and faster, and they are more sensitive, reliable, and precise than their mechanical counterparts.
Primary or fundamental dimensions  such as mass m, length L, time t, and temperature T, are the basis for the derivation of secondary dimensions.
Problem-solving technique  is a step-by-step approach to problem solving discussed in Chapter 1.
Process  is any change that a system undergoes from one equilibrium state to another. To describe a process completely, one should specify the initial and final states of the process, as well as the path it follows, and the interactions with the surroundings.
Property  is any characteristic of a system. Some familiar properties are pressure P, temperature T, volume V, and mass m. The list can be extended to include less familiar ones such as viscosity, thermal conductivity, modulus of elasticity, thermal expansion coefficient, electric resistivity, and even velocity and elevation.
Quasi-static, or quasi-equilibrium, process  is a process which proceeds in such a manner that the system remains infinitesimally close to an equilibrium state 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.
Rankine scale  named after William Rankine (1820-1872) is the thermodynamic temperature scale in the English system. The temperature unit on this scale is the rankine, which is designated by R.
Secondary dimensions, or derived dimensions  such as velocity, energy E, and volume V, are expressed in terms of the primary dimensions.
Sensible energy  is the portion of the internal energy of a system associated with the kinetic energies of the molecules.
Simple compressible system  is a system in which there is the absence of electrical, magnetic, gravitational, motion, and surface tension effects. These effects are due to external force fields and are negligible for most engineering problems.
Specific gravity, or relative density  is defined as the ratio of the density of a substance to the density of some standard substance at a specified temperature (usually water at 4°C, for which the density is 1000 kg/m3).
Specific properties  are extensive properties per unit mass. Some examples of specific properties are specific volume (v=V/m) and specific total energy (e= E/m).
Specific volume  is the reciprocal of density and is defined as the volume per unit mass.
Specific weight  w is the weight of a unit volume of a substance and is determined from the product of the local acceleration of gravity and the substance density.
State  of a system not undergoing any change gives a set of properties that completely describes the condition of a system. At this point, all the properties can be measured or calculated throughout the entire system.
State postulate  specifies the number of properties required to fix the state of a system: The state of a simple compressible system is completely specified by two independent, intensive properties.
Stationary systems  are closed systems whose velocity and elevation of the center of gravity remain constant during a process.
Statistical thermodynamics  an approach to thermodynamics more elaborate than classical thermodynamics, is based on the average behavior of large groups of individual particles.
Steady  implies no change with time. The opposite of steady is unsteady, or transient.
Steady-flow devices  operate for long periods of time under the same conditions.
Steady-flow process  is defined as a process during which a fluid flows through a control volume steadily. That is, the fluid properties can change from point to point within the control volume, but at any fixed point they remain the same during the entire process.
Surroundings  is the mass or region outside the thermodynamic system.
Thermal energy  is the sensible and latent forms of internal energy.
Thermal equilibrium  means that the temperature is the same throughout the entire system.
Thermodynamic equilibrium  is a condition of a system in which all the relevant types of equilibrium are satisfied.
Thermodynamics  can be defined as the science of energy. Energy can be viewed as the ability to cause changes. The name thermodynamics stems from the Greek words therme (heat) and dynamis (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 production, refrigeration, and relationships among the properties of matter.
Thermodynamic system  or simply a system, is defined as a quantity of matter or a region in space chosen for study.
Thermodynamic temperature scale  is a temperature scale that is independent of the properties of any substance or substances.
Total energy  E of a system is the sum of the numerous forms of energy such as thermal, mechanical, kinetic, potential, electric, magnetic, chemical, and nuclear, and their constituents. The total energy of a system on a unit mass basis is denoted bye and is defined as E/m.
Triple point  of water is the state at which all three phases of water coexist in equilibrium.
Uniform  implies no change with location over a specified region.
Units  are the arbitrary magnitudes assigned to the dimensions.
Vacuum pressure  is the pressure below atmospheric pressure and is measured by a vacuum gage that indicates the difference between the atmospheric pressure and the absolute pressure.
Weight  is the gravitational force applied to a body, and its magnitude is determined from Newton's second law.
Work  which is a form of energy, can simply be defined as force times distance.
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. By replacing the third body with a thermometer, the zeroth law can be restated as two bodies are in thermal equilibrium if both have the same temperature reading even if they are not in contact.