Editing Thermodynamics (section)

==Introduction==
A description of any thermodynamic system employs the four [[laws of thermodynamics]] that form an axiomatic basis. [[First law of thermodynamics|The first law]] specifies that energy can be transferred between physical systems as [[heat]], as [[Work (thermodynamics)|work]], and with transfer of matter.<ref>{{cite book | author=Van Ness, H.C. | title=Understanding Thermodynamics | publisher=Dover Publications, Inc. | year=1983 | orig-year=1969 | isbn=9780486632773 | oclc=8846081 | url-access=registration | url=https://archive.org/details/understandingthe00vann }}</ref> [[Second law of thermodynamics|The second law]] defines the existence of a quantity called [[entropy]], that describes the direction, thermodynamically, that a system can evolve and quantifies the state of order of a system and that can be used to quantify the useful work that can be extracted from the system.<ref>{{cite book | author=Dugdale, J.S. | title=Entropy and its Physical Meaning | publisher=Taylor and Francis | year=1998 | isbn=978-0-7484-0569-5 | oclc=36457809}}</ref>

In thermodynamics, interactions between large ensembles of objects are studied and categorized. Central to this are the concepts of the thermodynamic ''[[System (thermodynamics)|system]]'' and its ''[[Surroundings (thermodynamics)|surroundings]]''. A system is composed of particles, whose average motions define its properties, and those properties are in turn related to one another through [[Equation of state|equations of state]]. Properties can be combined to express [[internal energy]] and [[thermodynamic potential]]s, which are useful for determining conditions for [[Dynamic equilibrium|equilibrium]] and [[spontaneous process]]es.

With these tools, thermodynamics can be used to describe how systems respond to changes in their environment. This can be applied to a wide variety of topics in [[science]] and [[engineering]], such as [[engine]]s, [[phase transition]]s, [[chemical reaction]]s, [[transport phenomena]], and even [[black hole]]s. The results of thermodynamics are essential for other fields of [[physics]] and for [[chemistry]], [[chemical engineering]], [[corrosion engineering]], [[aerospace engineering]], [[mechanical engineering]], [[cell biology]], [[biomedical engineering]], [[materials science]], and [[economics]], to name a few.<ref>{{Cite book | last1=Smith | first1=J.M. | last2=Van Ness | first2=H.C. | last3=Abbott | first3=M.M. | title=Introduction to Chemical Engineering Thermodynamics | journal=Journal of Chemical Education | page=584 | year=2005 | volume=27 | issue=10 | doi=10.1021/ed027p584.3 | isbn=978-0-07-310445-4 | oclc=56491111| bibcode=1950JChEd..27..584S | edition=7th | url=http://www3.ub.tu-berlin.de/ihv/000471510.pdf }}</ref><ref>{{cite book | author=Haynie, Donald T. | title=Biological Thermodynamics | publisher=Cambridge University Press | year=2001 | isbn=978-0-521-79549-4 | oclc=43993556}}</ref>

This article is focused mainly on classical thermodynamics which primarily studies systems in [[thermodynamic equilibrium]]. [[Non-equilibrium thermodynamics]] is often treated as an extension of the classical treatment, but statistical mechanics has brought many advances to that field.