History Of the First and Second Laws of Thermodynamics

Modern life would not be the same without two important laws of thermodynamics. Without these two laws we would not have the gasoline engine or electricity in our homes. These two laws made the inventions that we take for granted possible. These two laws are the first and second laws of thermodynamics. The first law of thermodynamics is that energy can neither be created nor destroyed. It forms the basis of the idea that in order to produce a prescribed amount of work, a certain amount of energy must be put into a system. The second law of thermodynamics is about the active nature of systems. It states that systems will work to achieve a state of balance and equilibrium.

The laws of thermodynamics came about through observation. Early scientists simply made observations about the natural world around them and then...
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