25-Jan-22

Energy

Forms of Energy

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Energy
• In thermodynamic analysis, it is often helpful to consider the various forms of energy
that make up the total energy of a system in two groups: macroscopic and microscopic.

• The 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.

• The 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.
• The sum of all the microscopic forms of energy is called the internal energy of a system
and is denoted by U.

Macroscopic Energy
• The macroscopic energy of a system is related to motion and the influence of some external
effects such as gravity, magnetism, electricity, and surface tension.

• The energy that a system possesses as a result of its motion relative to some reference frame is
called kinetic energy (KE).

• When all parts of a system move with the same velocity, the kinetic energy is expressed as,

• The energy that a system possesses as a result of its elevation in a gravitational field is called
potential energy (PE) and is expressed as,

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Microscopic Energy
• Internal energy is defined earlier as the sum of all the microscopic forms of
energy of a system.

• It is related to the molecular structure and the degree of molecular activity

and can be viewed as the sum of the kinetic and potential energies of the
molecules.

Microscopic Energy
1. Sensible Energy

• The portion of the internal energy of a system associated with the kinetic energies of the
molecules is called the sensible energy.

• The average velocity and the degree of activity of the molecules are proportional to the
temperature of the gas.

• Therefore, at higher temperatures, the molecules possess higher kinetic energies, and as
a result the system has a higher internal energy.

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Microscopic Energy
1. Sensible Energy

• The molecules of a gas move through space with some velocity, and
thus possess some kinetic energy. This is known as the translational
energy.

• The atoms of polyatomic molecules rotate about an axis, and the

energy associated with this rotation is the rotational kinetic energy.

• The atoms of a polyatomic molecule may also vibrate about their

common center of mass, and the energy associated with this back-
and-forth motion is the vibrational kinetic energy.

Microscopic Energy
1. Sensible Energy

• For gases, the kinetic energy is mostly due to translational and

rotational motions, with vibrational motion becoming significant
at higher temperatures.

• The electrons in an atom rotate about the nucleus, and thus

possess rotational kinetic energy.

• Electrons also spin about their axes, and the energy associated
with this motion is the spin energy. Other particles in the nucleus
of an atom also possess spin energy.

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Microscopic Energy
2. Latent Energy

• The forces that bind the molecules to each other are, as one would expect, strongest in
solids and weakest in gases.

• If sufficient energy is added to the molecules of a solid or liquid, the molecules overcome
these molecular forces and break away, turning the substance into a gas. This is a phase-
change process.

• Because of this added energy, a system in the gas phase is at a higher internal energy
level than it is in the solid or the liquid phase.

• The internal energy associated with the phase of a system is called the latent energy.

Microscopic Energy
3. Chemical Energy
• An atom consists of neutrons and positively charged protons bound together by very
strong nuclear forces in the nucleus, and negatively charged electrons orbiting around it.

• The internal energy associated with the atomic bonds in a molecule is called chemical
energy.

• During a chemical reaction, such as a combustion process, some chemical bonds are
destroyed while others are formed.

• As a result, the internal energy changes.

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Microscopic Energy
4. Nuclear Energy

• The nuclear forces are much larger than the forces that bind the electrons to the nucleus.

• The tremendous amount of energy associated with the strong bonds within the nucleus
of the atom itself is called nuclear energy.

• In daily life, we frequently refer to the sensible and latent forms of internal energy as
heat, and we talk about heat content of bodies.

• In thermodynamics, however, we usually refer to those forms of energy as thermal

energy.

Total Energy
• The magnetic, electric, and surface tension effects are significant in some
specialized cases only and are usually ignored.
• In the absence of such effects, the total energy of a system consists of the kinetic,
potential, and internal energies and is expressed as,

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Mechanical Energy

• The mechanical energy can be defined as the form of energy that can be
converted to mechanical work completely and directly by an ideal
mechanical device such as an ideal turbine.

• Kinetic and potential energies are the familiar forms of mechanical energy.

Mechanical Energy
• Therefore, the mechanical energy of a flowing fluid can be expressed on a unit
mass basis as,