Changes

'''Conservation of Energy''' is a principle of [[physics]] that the total amount of energy in a closed system remains constant. Energy is often converted from one form into another, such as the conversion of [[potential energy]] into [[kinetic energy]] when a ball is dropped, but the overall amount of energy remains unchanged.

'''Conservation of Energy''' is a principle of [[physics]] that the total amount of energy in a closed system remains constant. Energy is often converted from one form into another, such as the conversion of [[potential energy]] into [[kinetic energy]] when a ball is dropped, but the overall amount of energy remains unchanged.

[[Thermodynamics]] is the field in physics that deals the most with energy, and its conversion between its different types.

Heat was a latecomer to this game.  The field of [[Thermodynamics]], developed during the 19^th century by such people as Carnot, Gibbs, Clausius, Clapeyron, Maxwell, Helmholtz, and Thompson (Lord Kelvin), established that, among other things, heat was a type of kinetic energy.  The First Law of Thermodynamics is simply a statement of that fact.  Because the connection between heat and more conventional forms of kinetic energy involves esoteric issues of statistical mechanics, thermodynamics is actually a rather advanced subject.  The Second and Third laws of thermodynamics deal with these issues.

 

[[category:physics]]

[[category:physics]]