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  Home > JCE Print > Journal of Chemical Education > Issues > 2002  > February  >
In the Classroom
First Law of Thermodynamics; Irreversible and Reversible Processes
Norman C. Craig
Department of Chemistry, Oberlin College, Oberlin, OH 44074-1083

Eric A. Gislason
Department of Chemistry, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL 60680

Cover
February 2002
Vol. 79 No. 2
p. 193
Abstract
The experimental basis for the first law of thermodynamics and related operational definitions are reviewed. An alternative, adiabatic-work formulation of the first law is evaluated. New mathematical expressions for irreversible work in isothermal and adiabatic expansions and compressions of an ideal gas are presented. The work for these irreversible processes is compared graphically with the reversible limit. For the adiabatic case some numerical explorations are also done. An operational definition for reversible processes in purely first-law terms is presented and applied.
More Information
*  Citation
 Craig, Norman C.; Gislason, Eric A. J. Chem. Educ. 2002 79 193.
*  Keywords
 Gases; Physical Chemistry; Thermodynamics
*  History
 Created:
Last Updated:		 January 2, 2002
March 16, 2005
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