The Zeroth and

First Law of
Thermodynamics:
Internal Energy, Heat, and
Work
 Zeroth Law of Thermodynamics:

‘Zeroth law of thermodynamics’ states that if

two systems are each equal in temperature
to a third, they are equal in temperature to each
other.
 Zeroth Law of Thermodynamics Cont…

The zeroth law of thermodynamics provides the

basis for the measurement of temperature. It
enables us to compare temperatures of two bodies
‘1’ and ‘2’ with the help of a third body ‘3’ and say
that the temperature of ‘1’ is the same as the
temperature of ‘2’ without actually bringing ‘1’ and
‘2’ in thermal contact. In practice, body ‘3’ in the
zeroth law is called the thermometer.
 Thermometric property

• The height of mercury column in a

thermometer, therefore, becomes a
thermometric property.
• There are other methods of temperature
measurement which utilize various other
properties of materials, that are functions of
temperature, as thermometric properties.
Thermometer and Thermometric
property
 The First Law of Thermodynamics

“When a system undergoes a thermodynamic

cycle then the net heat supplied to the system
from the surroundings is equal to net work done
by the system on its surroundings.
Experiment for checking first law of
thermodynamics.
 The experiments show :
(i) A definite quantity of work is always required
to accomplish the same temperature rise obtained
with a unit amount of heat. (ii) Regardless of
whether the temperature of liquid is raised by
work transfer or heat transfer, the liquid can be
returned by heat transfer in opposite direction to
the identical state from which it started. The
above results lead to the inference that work and
heat are different forms of something more
general, which is called energy.
 APPLICATION OF FIRST LAW TO A
PROCESS
When a process is executed by a system, the change in
stored energy of the system is numerically equal to the
net heat interactions minus the net work interaction
during the process.
 APPLICATION OF FIRST LAW TO A
PROCESS cont…
If the electric, magnetic and chemical energies are absent and changes in
potential and kinetic energy for a closed system are neglected, the previous
equation can be written as

• Generally, when heat is added to a system its temperature rises and

external work is performed due to increase in volume of the system. The
rise in temperature is an indication of increase of internal energy.
• Heat added to the system will be considered as positive and the heat
removed or rejected, from the system, as negative
 Internal Energy U, Work, and Heat

-w (in)
+q (in)
-w for work done on
the system by the
system surroundings

+w (out) +w for work done by

q (out)
the system on the
surroundings surroundings
 Internal Energy U, Work, and Heat

-w (in)
+q (in)
+q for heat added (or
absorbed) into the
system system from the
surroundings

+w (out)
q (out)
q for heat released
surroundings by the system to the
surroundings
 The Internal Energy (E or U)

A few more points:

Recall that energy is conserved.

If ∆U does not equal zero in a thermodynamic

process, then energy must have been
transferred into or out of the system in the
form of heat and/or work.
 Heat (q)

Exothermic reactions (or processes)

release heat
q for an exothermic reaction

Endothermic reactions (or processes)

absorb heat
+q for an endothermic reaction
What You Should Be Able to Do (so
far)
Describe and be able to use the First
Law and the equation for U (E)

Define and/or identify the system and

the surroundings for various scenarios.

Describe and identify whether a given

system is open or closed.
What You Should Be Able to Do (so
far)
Identify when the system is doing work
or having work done on it.

Be able to calculate PV work for a given

process.

Identify an exothermic or endothermic

process using q.