All Questions
25
questions
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4
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177
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When is the internal energy of a system not considered potential energy? [duplicate]
I have seen the total energy of a system, $E$, given in two forms:
$$E = K + U$$
where $K$ is the kinetic energy and $U$ is the potential energy, as well as
$$E = K + U + I$$
where $I$ is the internal ...
- 3,350
1
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1
answer
46
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First principle of thermodynamics with kinetic and potential energies
Edit: Sometimes the first principle is stated as $Q+W=\Delta U\;+\Delta K\;+\Delta P$ (1). I assumed that the expression comes from the more elementary principle $Q+W_{total}=\Delta U$. On the one ...
- 11
8
votes
6
answers
2k
views
How is thermal energy split between kinetic energy and potential energy?
Internal ("thermal") energy must be some combination of kinetic energy and potential energy, although most discussions of internal energy mention only the kinetic energy. However you also ...
- 141
0
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1
answer
230
views
Does the internal potential energy of water in a tight container increase or decrease when it evaporates from heat transfer?
I am a physics and a chemistry student who needs help with a contradictory statement made by my books on the matter.
I was under the impression that internal potential energy of water would increase ...
- 3
1
vote
1
answer
76
views
Is a chemical gradient part of the grand potential energy?
Recently I was trying to write an intuitive explanation of entropy, and wanted to check my understanding of a simple system is accurate. Here we have a box with two sides:
Starting off, there is a ...
- 309
0
votes
1
answer
166
views
Latent energy as a component of Internal energy
This is an excerpt from Fundamentals of Heat Transfer
The internal energy consists of a sensible component, which accounts for
the translational, rotational, and/or vibrational motion of the atoms/...
- 521
3
votes
2
answers
130
views
Does electron-proton interaction and electron-electron interaction in an atom gives rise to a microscopic potential energy?
When studying thermodynamics we come across a property of a system called internal energy, which is the sum of all energies possessed by the system at the microscopic level. Internal energy has two ...
- 521
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votes
1
answer
48
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Can the energy of a physical system be described as an unconstrained optimisation problem?
Sorry if this is something that is well known, not really familiar with modern physics beyond high school / introductory undergrad level. I largely work in deep learning and broadly speaking, you can ...
- 103
0
votes
3
answers
152
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If a system is placed in a gravitational field, can you define internal energy for it?
My textbook says that internal energy for a system can only be defined if the system is isolated i.e. it has no external $K.E.$ and is not present in any external force field. But why? Why is it ...
- 837
2
votes
1
answer
133
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Energy change when heating a substance
When a substance is heated but not changing its phase, is the potential energy between the particles constituting the substance also increasing, or is it only the random kinetic energy of particles ...
- 471
3
votes
2
answers
198
views
What does my textbook mean by "potential energy" while defining internal energy of a system?
Recall that thermal energy is an internal energy that consists of the
kinetic and potential energies associated with the random motions of
the atoms, molecules, and other microscopic bodies within an ...
- 410
0
votes
0
answers
97
views
Do solids heat up on compression or extension? If so how?
Well, let's take the example of a compressible solid. We know that in order to compress a solid we need to apply a force "greater(and not really equal)" than the interatomic/intermolecular ...
- 97
5
votes
4
answers
502
views
Do Newtonian mechanics and thermodynamics have different definitions of internal energy?
This question comes out of a discussion under one of my answers here on PSE. My original understanding of internal energy went something like this:
The internal energy of a system of particles is the ...
- 57.2k
0
votes
2
answers
243
views
Which is more fundamental - a system's tendency to minimize it's energy or a system's tendency to maximize it's entropy?
The idea of the Minimum Energy Principle is the driving force behind Maximizing the Entropy or to have Maximum Entropy is a driving force behind a system's tendency towards Minimum Energy?
Both seem ...
- 2,517
23
votes
11
answers
4k
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Is concept of entropy really indispensable? Especially when the concept of potential energy can serve the purpose?
We see that all the natural systems aspire for minimum potential energy state and we also see that all the natural systems also aspire for maximum entropy state. Now from this understanding it seems ...
- 2,517