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  2. Minimum total potential energy principle - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minimum_total_potential...

    The minimum total potential energy principle is a fundamental concept used in physics and engineering.It dictates that at low temperatures a structure or body shall deform or displace to a position that (locally) minimizes the total potential energy, with the lost potential energy being converted into kinetic energy (specifically heat).

  3. Principle of minimum energy - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principle_of_minimum_energy

    The principle of minimum energy is essentially a restatement of the second law of thermodynamics. It states that for a closed system, with constant external parameters and entropy, the internal energy will decrease and approach a minimum value at equilibrium. External parameters generally means the volume, but may include other parameters which ...

  4. Helmholtz free energy - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helmholtz_free_energy

    In thermodynamics, the Helmholtz free energy (or Helmholtz energy) is a thermodynamic potential that measures the useful work obtainable from a closed thermodynamic system at a constant temperature . The change in the Helmholtz energy during a process is equal to the maximum amount of work that the system can perform in a thermodynamic process ...

  5. Thermodynamic potential - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermodynamic_potential

    A thermodynamic potential (or more accurately, a thermodynamic potential energy) [1] [2] is a scalar quantity used to represent the thermodynamic state of a system. Just as in mechanics , where potential energy is defined as capacity to do work, similarly different potentials have different meanings.

  6. Energy principles in structural mechanics - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_principles_in...

    Energy principles in ... Minimum total potential energy principle; Principle of stationary total complementary potential energy; Castigliano's first theorem ...

  7. Potential energy - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potential_energy

    Potential energy is the energy by virtue of an object's position relative to other objects. [6] Potential energy is often associated with restoring forces such as a spring or the force of gravity. The action of stretching a spring or lifting a mass is performed by an external force that works against the force field of the potential.

  8. Extremal principles in non-equilibrium thermodynamics

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extremal_principles_in_non...

    He attributed the first part of this theorem to Helmholtz, who had shown that it is a simple consequence of a theorem that "if the motion be steady, the currents in a viscous [incompressible] fluid are so distributed that the loss of [kinetic] energy due to viscosity is a minimum, on the supposition that the velocities along boundaries of the ...

  9. Thomson problem - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomson_problem

    The objective of the Thomson problem is to determine the minimum electrostatic potential energy configuration of N electrons constrained to the surface of a unit sphere that repel each other with a force given by Coulomb's law.