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Thermal Concepts1
Thermal Concepts1
Thermal Concepts1
Heat or thermal energy is the non-mechanical transfer of energy between two materials held
at different temperatures.
Internal Energy
All materials are made of atoms or molecules.
Atoms and molecules have both kinetic energy and potential energy. Kinetic energy arises due to the
translational, rotational and vibrational motion of molecules/atoms.
Potential energy arises due to the forces (of interaction) between the atoms/molecules.
Internal Energy is the total of the kinetic and potential energies of all the atoms/molecules in
the material.
Increases vibrational
kinetic energy
Increases internal
energy (U)
Increases rotational
kinetic energy
At temperatures other
than melting point or
boiling point
Increases translational
kinetic energy (results in
temperature increase T)
Thus it can be seen that a part of the heat supplied has been utilized for the rise in temperature of the
material.
Similarly we can show that heat removed from the material would result in the decrease in the potential
and kinetic energies of the molecules/atoms of the material. Decrease in kinetic energy includes the
decrease of translational kinetic energy which manifests as the decrease in temperature.
The thermal energy added to or removed from the material (Q) is related to the change in temperature
(T) by the relation,
Q is thermal energy supplied or removed
m is mass of the material
T is the change in temperature
'c' is the specific heat capacity of the material
Specific heat capacity is defined as the thermal energy required (or released) when the
temperature of 1 Kg of the substance changes by 1 degree Celsius.
Specific heat capacity is calculated from the formula
The specific heat capacity is not the same for different materials. For example the specific heat capacity
of water is 4200 Jkg-1 K-1 while that of copper is 386 Jkg-1 K-1. This means that copper requires less
thermal energy for rise in temperature than water that requires more thermal energy to have the same
rise in temperature as copper.
Change of state
Change of state refers to the process in which a material is transformed from one physical
state to another physical state (like solid to liquid, liquid to vapor/gas or liquid to solid, etc) at
a fixed temperature.
The following diagram summarizes the various change of state processes and their names:
MELTING POINT is the fixed temperature at which a solid is transformed into liquid (melting)
or vice-versa (freezing).
BOILING POINT is the fixed temperature at which a liquid is transformed into its vapor
(boiling) or vice versa (condensation).
The first inclined part of the graph represents the solid state with increasing temperature. When the
temperature reaches the melting point, no further increase of temperature is seen, but the solid
transforms to a liquid state at the constant temperature. When all the solid is converted to liquid,
further heating results in the increase of temperature of the liquid. This is shown by the second inclined
portion of the graph. Similar interpretation can be given to the other portions of the graph.
The X-axis of the graph is labeled as "Heat added". If heat is added at a constant rate, then the X-axis
can be also labeled as "time".
The slant line of the graph represent change in temperature and the horizontal portions of the graph
represent phase changes happening at constant temperature.
The more inclined the line is, the less energy it requires to raise the temperature of the material (less
specific heat capacity).
If heat is removed at a constant rate from a material in the vapor state, a cooling curve is obtained
which appears like a mirror image of the heating curve and all the different stages reversed. The cooling
curve is shown below:
Latent heat
When a material is transformed from one state to another, thermal energy is either absorbed or
released by the material. When it is transformed from solid to liquid state or liquid to vapor
state, thermal energy is absorbed by the material. When it is transformed from vapor to liquid
state or liquid to solid state, thermal energy is released. This results in a change in the internal
energy of the material.
Latent heat is the thermal energy absorbed (required) or released by a material when