Laws of thermodynamics

High school (ages 12+)
Science & Technology

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/laws-of-thermodynamics

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the mathematical formulation (2nd law)?\Delta S \ge 0 for an isolated system, where S is entropy
2. What is the first law of thermodynamics?The first law says energy is never lost or created in an isolated system; it just changes form, like from heat to work.
3. Why does the second law of thermodynamics matter for living things?It shows that living things must keep using energy to stay organized, because natural processes tend to become more disordered.

Internal Energy (U): The total energy contained within a thermodynamic system, including kinetic and potential energies of its molecules.
Enthalpy (H): A thermodynamic property representing the total heat content of a system at constant pressure (H = U + PV).
Statistical Mechanics: A branch of physics that uses probability theory to explain the thermodynamic behavior of macroscopic systems from their microscopic constituents.