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Thermodynamics Glossary

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  • Absolute Entropy  -  Is entropy calculated relative to the absolute reference point determined by the Third Law of Thermodynamics.
  • Absolute Humidity  -  The mass of water vapor divided by the mass of dry air in a certain volume of air at a specific temperature.
  • Absolute Pressure  -  A pressure at absolute zero can only exist in a total vacuum and any pressure above this is called absolute pressure.
  • Absolute Temperature  -  Is measured from the starting point of 0, where zero is the coldest theoretically attainable temperature in nature.
  • Absolute Zero  -  The temperature at which all motion within molecules completely stops.  Below absolute zero temperature does not exist.
  • Adiabatic Compression  -  The external work done is equal to the increased internal energy of the air in the system. Here the heat is neither subtracted or added from the surrounding air to the system air.  As there is an increase in the temperature of the system the pressure of the system tends to be more than the volume.
  • Adiabatic Expansion  -  The ideal behaviour of a system where the temperature keeps on increasing and pressure remains constant.  It refers generally to a closed system.
  • Adiabatic Heat Drop  -  The heat energy released and theoretically capable of transformation into mechanical work during the adiabatic expansion of unit weight of steam or other vapour of gas.
  • Adiabatic Process  -  An adiabatic process describes a process that remains aloof from its surroundings.  It is a process in which no heat transfer occurs between a system and its surroundings.  Here, the temperature of the system can vary in order to avoid any heat transfer.
  • Air  -  A gas consisting principally of a mixture ot 78% nitrogen, 22% oxygen, 1% argon, and the other 4% minor gasses like approximately 0.4% carbon dioxide, 0.08% neon, 0.005% helium, 0.0001% krypton, 0.00005% hydrogen, and trace amounts of xenon gas.  The composition can vary according to local conditions.
  • Amagat's Law  -  States that the volume of a mixture is equal to the sum of the partial volume of its components.
  • Ambient Temperature  -  The current surrounding environment air temperature.  This temperature has nothing to do with high or low forcasts.
  • Antoine Equation  -  The relationship between vapor pressure and the temperature of pure substances.
  • Area Thermal Expansion  -  Happens when any change in temperature expands the area.
  • Area Thermal Expansion Coefficient  -  The ratio of the change in size of a material to its change in temperature.
  • Arrhenius Equation  -  The temperature dependance of the reaction rate constant which is the rate of chemical reaction.
  • Atmospheric air  -  The air in the atmosphere, which normally contains some water vapor.

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  • Celsius  -  A unit of temperature most commonly used through out the world.
  • Charles' Law  -  , one of the gas laws, states that at a constant pressure the volume of a given mass of gas is directly porportional, increases or decreases, to the absolute temperature.
  • Chemical Energy  -  Is when two substances are combined or mixed together (atoms and molecules interacting) to produce a chemical reaction.
  • Clausius-Clapeyron Equation  -  The vapor pressure of given liquids or solids.  This allows us to estimate the pressure temperature, if the vapor pressure is known at some temperature and if the enthalpy of vaporization is known.
  • Clean Steam  -  Steam that is generated from pure water, free from contaminants and impurities.
  • Closed System  -  Exchanges only energy with its surroundings, not matter.
  • Coefficient of Aerial Thermal Expansion  -  See Area Thermal Expansion Coefficient
  • Coefficient of Compressibility  -  See Compressibility
  • Coefficient of Linear Thermal Expansion  -  See Linear Thermal Expansion coefficient
  • Coefficient of Thermal Expansion  -  See Thermal Expansion Coefficient
  • Coefficient of Volumetric Thermal Expansion  -  See Volumetric Thermal Expansion Coefficient
  • Cold  -  Is when the temperature is less than normal or the lack of heat.
  • Combustion  -  A reaction called rapid oxidation or burning produced with the right combination of a fuel, oxygen, and heat.
  • Combustion Efficiency  -  The amoount of heat released during combustion divided by the heating value of the fuel.
  • Complete Combustion  -  A combustion process in which all the carbon in the fuel burns to \(CO_2\), all the hydrogen burns to \(H_2O\), and all the sulfure (if any) burns to \(SO_2\).
  • Compression Ratio  -  The ratio of the maximum volume to the minimum volume in a cylinder.
  • Compressibility  -  Measures the change in volume under external forces for any liquid.
  • Compressor  -  A device that forces air or gas into a smaller area increasing the volume and creating a usable force of energy.
  • Condensation  -  A physical change of a substance from a gas phase to a liquid phase.  The molecules are fast moving and far apare. 
  • Condenser  -  An outdoor part of the AC or heat pump that releases or collects heat.
  • Conduction Heat Transfer  -  See Heat Transfer by Conduction
  • Conductor  -  A material through which heat passes.
  • Conservation of Energy  -  See First Law of Thermodynamics
  • Convective Heat Transfer  -  See Heat Transfer by Convection
  • Convective Heat Transfer Coefficient  -  A porportional constant between heat flux and force from the flow of heat, this also depends on the type of fluid and fluid velocity.
  • Critical Point  -  The point at which the saturated liquid and saturated vapor states are identical.
  • Critical Pressure  -  The ctitical pressure of a vapor is the pressure required to liquefy it at the critical temperature and is the highest pressure on the temperature-pressure graph for standard vapor.
  • Critical Properties  -  The properties of a fluid at a location where Mach number is unity.
  • Critical Ratio  -  The ratio of the stagnation to static properties when the Mach number is unity.
  • Critical State of a Substance  -  The state at which liquid and vapor coexist in equilibrium.  At critical state, latent heat of vaporization becomes zero.
  • Critical Temperature  -  The temperature of the vapor above which no pressure, however high, will produce liquefaction.
  • Critical Velocity  -  The velocity above which fluid flow is turbulent.
  • Critical Volume  -  The volume of substance at the critical point.

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  • Dead State  -  When a system is in thermodynamic equilibrium with the envitonment.
  • Deficiency of Air  -  When the amount of air is less than the stoichiometer amount.
  • Density  -  The ratio of the amount of matter in an object compared to its volume.
  • Density of an Ideal Gas  -  Greatly affected by pressure.
  • Deposition  -  A physical change of a substance from a gas phase to a solid phase and does not pass through the transitional liquid phase.  This is exactly the opposite of sublimation.
  • Discharge Coefficient  -  The ratio of actual discharge to the theoretical discharge.
  • Dry Air  -  Air that contains no water vapor.
  • Dry Bulb Temperature  -  The actual temperature of air.
  • Dry steam  -  Does not contain water held in suspension.  It is similar to superheated steam.
  • Dynamic Temperature  -  The kinetic energy per unit mass divided by the constant pressure specific heat and corresponds to the temperature rise during the stagnation process.

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  • Efficiency  -  Is expressed in percentage and always less than 100%.
  • Elastic Modulus  -  See Young's Modulus
  • Emissivity  -  The surface depends on the material effectiveness in emitting energy as thermal radiation and varies between 0.0 and 1.0.
  • Energy  -  Is never created or destroyed First Law of Thermodynamics, but it can be transferred from one object to another. 
  • Enthalpy  -  Measures the sum of internal energy changes in heat under constant pressure of the system.
  • Enthalpy of Combustion  - The enthropy of reaction during a steady-flow combustion process when 1 kmol (or 1 kg) of fuel is burned completely at a specific preasure and temperature and represents the amount of heat released.
  • Enthalpy Departure  -  The difference between the enthalpy of a real gas and the enthalpy of the gas at an ideal state and it represents the variation of the enthalpy of a gas with pressure at a fixed temperatiure.
  • Enthalpy Departure Factor  -  The difference between the entropy of a real gas at a given pressure and temperature and the entropy of the gas at an ideal gas state at the same pressure and temperature.
  • Enthalpy of Formation  -  The enthalpy of a substance at a specific state due to its chemical composition.
  • Enthalpy of Reaction  -  The difference between the enthalpy of the products at a specific state and the enthalpy of the reactants at the same state for a complete reaction.
  • Entropy  -  Measures the unavailable energy in a heat system.
  • Entropy Change of a Closed System  -  The entropy transfer accompanting heat transfer and the entropy generation within the system boundaries.
  • Equilibrium  -  In a equilibrium state there are no unbalanced potentials, or driving forces within the system.
  • Evaporation  -  The condition that occurs when heat is absorbed by the surface of a liquid and it changes to vapor.
  • Evaporative Condenser  -  Combines the principles of force circulation convection currents with the ability of a vaporizing liquid to absorb heat.
  • Exchanged Heat in a Heat Exchanger  -

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  • Gas  -  Able to be compressed to fit a confined space and expanded when released.
  • Gas Compressibility Factor  -  A factor independent of the quantity of gas and determined by the character of the gas, the temperature, and pressure.
  • Gas Laws  -  One of the four phases of matter (gas, liquid, plasma, and solid).  These laws deal with the behavior of gas with respect to pressure, temperature, and volume.
  • Gay-Lussac's Law  -  One of the Gas Laws, states the proportional, that when temperature increases, pressure increases, when pressure decreases, temperature decreases.
  • Gauge Pressure  -  the difference between the absolute pressure and the local atmospheric pressure.
  • Geothermal Heat Pump  -  Uses the ground as the heat source.

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  • Ideal Gas  -  Defined as one in which all collisions between atoms or molecules are perfectly elastic and in which there are no intermolecular attractive forces.
  • Ideal Gas Law  -  Used to predict pressure, temperature & volume changes in ideal gasses.
  • Ideal Gas Law Density  -
  • Ideal Gas Law Pressure  -
  • Ideal Gas Law with Compressibility Factor  -  Used for higher pressure and temperature than the ideal gas law that is at atmospheric conditions.
  • Ignition Temperature  -  The minimum temperature to which a fuel must be brought to start the combustion.
  • Inert Gas  -  A gas which does not normally combine chemically with the base metal or filler metal.
  • Initial Temperature  -
  • Initial Volume  -
  • Internal Energy  -  The total of all energies associated with the motion of the molecules in the system.
  • Intensive Properties  -  See intrinsic properties.
  • Intrinsic Properties  -  Those properties which are independent of the mass of the system, such as density, pressure, and temperature.
  • Isobaric Process  -  The pressure is kept constant.  To do this, the volume needs to expand or contract in a way that any pressure change would be negated that would be caused by heat transfer in the system.
  • Isobaric Process - Enthalpy  -  A thermodynamic process where the pressure is kept constant, \(\Delta p = 0\).
  • Isobaric Process - Entropy  -  A thermodynamic process where the pressure is kept constant, \(\Delta p = 0\).
  • Isobaric Process - Entropy in Terms of Pressure and Volume  -  Isobaric process is a thermodynamic process where the pressure is kept constant, \(\Delta p = 0\).
  • Isolated System  -  Keeps the energy and matter within the system and everything else out.  No transfer in or out.
  • Isothermal Process  -  An isothermal process is a process that happens when there are no variations (constant) in the temperature of the system, but other parameters such as volume and pressure, can be changed accordingly.

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  • Kelvin  -  A unit of temperature normally used for scientific calculations.
  • Kinetic Energy  -  The energy in moving objects or mass.  If it moves, it has kinetic energy.

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  • Mass Fraction  -  The ratio of the mass of one component in a mixture to the total mass of the minture.
  • Matter  -  When you look around, everything you see or may not see in the universe is made up of matter.  If it has a mass and takes up space, it is matter.
  • Melting Point  -  A solid is the temperature at which it changes state from solid to liquid.
  • Modulus of Elasticity  -  See Young's Modulus
  • Molecular Mass  -  See Molecular Weight
  • Molecular Weight  -  The average mass of one molecule of a substance, 1⁄12 (0.083) the mass of carbon 12 atom.

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  • Newton's Law of Cooling  -  The law states that the rate of heat loss of a body is directly porportional to the difference in the temperature between the body and its surrounding provided the temperature difference is small and the nature of radiating surface remains the same.

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  • Saturation Temperature  -  Temperature of the liquid surface corresponding to the pressure of the vapour in contact with in.
  • Saturated Phase  -  Any phase of a substance existing under saturated conditions, wherein two or more phases of a pure substance can exist togeather in equilibrium.
  • Saturated Steam  -  The point (temperature and pressure) when steam is in contact with the liquid water (boiling) it came from.
  • Saturated Vapor  -  A vapor at a temperature of the boiling point on the verge of condensing.
  • Second Law of Thermodynamics  -  States that heat cannot pass from a cold body to a hot one by a self-acting process without the help of an external influence.
  • Semi-perfect Heat  -  One which follows the ideal gas relations with specific heats being functions of temperature.
  • Sensible Heat  -  The heat added to a substance which increases its temperature but not the phase.
  • Shrinkage  -  The contraction in volume as a liquid or metal cools or freezes from its normal temperature.
  • Solubility  -  The maximum amount of solid that can be dissolved in a liquid at a specific temperature.
  • Specific Enthalpy  -  The enthalpy per unit mass.  It is also the total specific internal energy in a system and the product of pressure and specific volume.
  • Specific Internal Energy  -  The internal energy per unit mass of a substance.
  • Specific Heat  -  The amount of heat required to raise the temperature of a material 1 degree.
  • Specific Heat Capacity  -  The amount of energy required to increase the temperature of the substance by 1°C.
  • Steam  -  The invisible vapor (gas) when water is heated to its boiling point and passes from a liquid to a gaseous state.
  • Steam density  -  Has a higher density than water vapor, the higher the pressure the higher the steam density.
  • Steam Dryness  -   See Steam Quality
  • Steam Flow Regimes  -  Because steam can behave as a liquid and as a gas and everything inbetween, the way steam flows through a pipe can change through long straight runs.
  • Steam Quality  -  The porportion of saturated steam (vapor) in a saturated condensate (liquid) / steam (vapor) mixture.
  • Steam Users  -  Steam is used for many things in piping design.  In the oil and gas industry, steam is used to heat production tanks, keep flow lines from freezing and to increase oil production in formations that are very viscious.
  • Sublimation  -  A physical change of a substance from a solid phase to a gas phase and does not pass through the transitional liquid phase.
  • Subcooled Liquid  -  A liquid existing at a temperature lower than its saturated temperature, or at a pressure higher than its saturated pressure.
  • Superheat  -  Addition of heat to a fluid after it has completely vaporized.  The temperature increases but pressure does not.
  • Superheated Steam  -  Steam at any given pressure which is heated to a temperature higher than the temperature of saturated steam.
  • Superheated Vapor  -  When vapor has absorbed more heat than is needed to vaporize.  It will not condense when small amounts of heat is removed.

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  • Temperature  -  The amount of heat or cold, but it is neither heat or cold.  Temperature is expressed as a number that is related to energy and porportional to a type of energy, but it is not energy.
  • Temperature Differential  -  The difference between two specific temperature points of a volume at a given time in a system.
  • Temperature Gradient  -  Describes in which direction and what rate the temperature changes in a given area.
  • Temperature of an Ideal Gas  -  In an ideal gas, molecules have no volume and do not interact.
  • Tension Modulus  -  See Young's Modulus
  • Thermal  -  Caused by the change in temperature.
  • Thermal Analysis  -  A method of studying transformations in metal by measuring the temperature at which thermal arrests occure.
  • Thermal Capacity  -  See Heat Capacity
  • Thermal Conductivity  -  The ability to transfer heat within a material without any motion of the material.
  • Thermal Contraction  -  The decrease in a linear dimension and volume of a material with a change of temperature.
  • Thermal Cracking  -  A fluid degradation that occurs when a fluid  is heated above the maximum bulk temperature.  Consequently, the fluid's viscosity, flash point, fire point and auto-ignition temperature reduce significantly.
  • Thermal Diffusivity  -  A measure of the transient thermal reaction of a material to a change in temperature.
  • Thermal Efficiency  -  The fraction of heat that is converted to work or desired output divided by required input.
  • Thermal Energy  -  The exertion of power that is created by heat, or the increase in temperature.
  • Thermal Expansion  -  The increase in length, area or volume due to the increase (in some cased decrease) in temperature.
  • Thermal Expansion Coefficient  -  The percentage change in the length of the material per degree of temperature change, heated solid or liquid.
  • Thermal Expansion of Gases  -
  • Thermal Expansion of Liquids  -
  • Thermal Expansion of Solids  -
  • Thermal Fatique  -  Failure resulting from rapid cycles of alternating heating and cooling.
  • Thermal Flux  -  See Heat Flux
  • Thermal Insulation  -  Any material that is used as a barrier to heat transfer.
  • Thermal Insulator  -  Does not conduct heat readily and is used for either heat conservation or personnel protection.
  • Thermal Resistance  -  Measures the temperature difference by which an object or material resists a heat flow.
  • Thermal Stability  -  The ability of a fluid to resist degradation under high-temperature operating conditions.
  • Thermal Stress  -  Results from non uniform distribution of temperature.
  • Third Law of Thermodynamics  -  Is about the ability to create an absolute zero temperature, where the entropy approaches a constant minimum value.  It also states that it is not possible for any system to reach absolute zero.
  • Total Energy  -  The sum of numerous forms of energy such as chemical, electrical, magnetic, mechanical, nuclear, potential, thermal, and etc.
  • Total Heat Transfer  - The heat put into a system or heat lost from a system.

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  • Zeroth Law of Thermodynamics  -  When two thermal systems are in equilibrium and they with a third, then all are equal to each other, meaning  \(A=B\)  and  \(B=C\)  then  \(A=C\)

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