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The internal energy depends only on the internal state of the system and not on the particular choice from many possible processes by which energy may pass into or out of the system. It is a state variable, a thermodynamic potential, and an extensive property. [5] Thermodynamics defines internal energy macroscopically, for the body as a whole.
Since the internal energy of the gas during Joule expansion is constant, cooling must be due to the conversion of internal kinetic energy to internal potential energy, with the opposite being the case for warming. Intermolecular forces are repulsive at short range and attractive at long range (for example, see the Lennard-Jones potential ...
Just as a small increment of energy in a mechanical system is the product of a force times a small displacement, so an increment in the energy of a thermodynamic system can be expressed as the sum of the products of certain generalized "forces" which, when unbalanced, cause certain generalized "displacements" to occur, with their product being the energy transferred as a result.
According to the first law of thermodynamics, the change dU in the internal energy of the sub-system is the sum of the heat δq added to the sub-system, minus any work δw done by the sub-system, plus any net chemical energy entering the sub-system d Σμ iR N i, so that:
In general, the energy eigenstates of the system will depend on x. According to the adiabatic theorem of quantum mechanics, in the limit of an infinitely slow change of the system's Hamiltonian, the system will stay in the same energy eigenstate and thus change its energy according to the change in energy of the energy eigenstate it is in.
Since the revised and more rigorous definition of the internal energy of a closed system rests upon the possibility of processes by which adiabatic work takes the system from one state to another, this leaves a problem for the definition of internal energy for an open system, for which adiabatic work is not in general possible.
Thermodynamic systems can be passive and active according to internal processes. According to internal processes, passive systems and active systems are distinguished: passive, in which there is a redistribution of available energy, active, in which one type of energy is converted into another.
where W is work, U is internal energy, and Q is heat. [1] Pressure-volume work by the closed system is defined as: = where Δ means change over the whole process, whereas d denotes a differential. Since pressure is constant, this means that =. Applying the ideal gas law, this becomes