Field
Thermodynamics
The study of heat, work, and energy, and of the laws that limit how they can be converted.
Updated Oct 15, 2026 · 1 min read · 4 connections
- Origins
- Sadi Carnot, 1824
- Laws
- Zeroth through third
The laws
The first law expresses conservation of energy. The second introduces entropy and forbids perpetual motion machines that turn heat entirely into work. The theory grew out of Sadi Carnot’s analysis of steam engines.
Microscopic explanation
Statistical mechanics explains the laws as the average behavior of vast numbers of particles. Erwin Schrödinger’s 1944 book “What Is Life?” used these ideas to ask how organisms maintain order, and it influenced the scientists who later described DNA.