Heat is defined as the transfer of energy across the boundary of a system due to a temperature difference between the system and its surroundings. When you heat a substance, you are transferring energy into it by placing it in contact with surroundings that have a higher temperature. Such is the case, for example, when you place a pan of cold water on a stove burner. The burner is at a higher temperature than the water, and so the water gains energy. We shall also use the term heat to represent the amount of energy transferred by this method. Work and Heat in Thermodynamic Processes In thermodynamics, we describe the state of a system using such variables as pressure, volume, temperature, and internal energy. As a result, these quantities belong to a category called state variables. For any given configuration of the system, we can identify values of the state variables. (For mechanical systems, the state variables include kinetic energy K and potential energy U.) A state of a system can be specified only if the system is in thermal equilibrium internally. In the case of a gas in a container, internal thermal equilibrium requires that every part of the gas be at the same pressure and temperature. A second category of variables in situations involving energy is transfer variables. These variables are zero unless a process occurs in which energy is transferred across the boundary of the system. Because a transfer of energy across the boundary represents a change in the system, transfer variables are not associated with a given state of the system, but with a change in the state of the system. In the previous sections, we discussed heat as a transfer variable. For a given set of conditions of a system, there is no defined value for the heat. We can only assign a value of the heat if energy crosses the boundary by heat, resulting in a change in the system. State variables are characteristic of a system in thermal equilibrium. Transfer variables are characteristic of a process in which energy is transferred between a system and its environment. In this section, we study another important transfer variable for thermodynamic systems—work.
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