THERMODYNAMICS

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does thermodynamics mean? 

• THERMODYNAMICS (noun)
  The noun THERMODYNAMICS has 1 sense:

1. the branch of physics concerned with the conversion of different forms of energy

  Familiarity information: THERMODYNAMICS used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• THERMODYNAMICS (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The branch of physics concerned with the conversion of different forms of energy

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Hypernyms ("thermodynamics" is a kind of...):

natural philosophy; physics (the science of matter and energy and their interactions)

Domain member category:

enthalpy; H; heat content; total heat ((thermodynamics) a thermodynamic quantity equal to the internal energy of a system plus the product of its volume and pressure)

entropy; randomness; S ((thermodynamics) a thermodynamic quantity representing the amount of energy in a system that is no longer available for doing mechanical work)

adiabatic process ((thermodynamics) any process that occurs without gain or loss of heat)

cyclic (conforming to the Carnot cycle)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "thermodynamics"):

thermodynamics of equilibrium; thermostatics (the aspect of thermodynamics concerned with thermal equilibrium)

Derivation:

thermodynamic; thermodynamical (of or concerned with thermodynamics)

 Context examples 

The researchers worked out the chemical pathways and thermodynamics involved in multiple scenarios on Earth to see if they could produce enough energy to turn phosphorous into phosphine.

(Poisonous Earthly Molecule May Be Sign of Extraterrestrial Life, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

Chemical thermodynamics, chemical kinetics, quantum chemistry, statistical mechanics, and spectroscopy are some areas of chemistry comprising the bulk of physical chemistry.

(Physical Chemistry, NCI Thesaurus)

In a new study, researchers Dave Stegman, Leah Ziegler and Nicolas Blanc provide new estimates of the thermodynamics of magnetic field generation in the liquid portion of early Earth's mantle, and show how long that field was available.

(Earth's mantle, not its core, may have generated planet's early magnetic field, National Science Foundation)