[[File:4335281098 237ce959bd.jpg|thumbnail|right|350px|The First Law of Thermodynamics and the [[second law of thermodynamics]] point to a divine origin of the universe.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20160318060455/https://www.creationencounter.com/space/lawsofscience.php Scientific laws and the Origin of the Universe]</ref><ref>[https://creation.com/if-god-created-the-universe-then-who-created-god If God created the universe, then who created God?] by [[Jonathan Sarfati]]</ref>]]
The '''First Law of Thermodynamics''' states that the increase in internal energy of a closed system equals the amount of heat energy added minus the work performed by the system.
Mathematically, this is described as follows:
:<math>\mathrm{d}UdU=\delta QdQ-\delta WdW\,</math>
where :<math>\mathrm{d}UdU</math> is the infinitesimal increase in the internal [[energy]], :<math>\delta QdQ</math> is the infinitesimal amount of [[heat]] added, and to the system:<math>\delta WdW</math> is the infinitesimal amount of work performed.done by the system
A ramification of this is the [[Principle of conservation of energy]]<ref>Wile, Dr. Jay L. ''Exploring Creation With Chemistry''. Apologia Educational Ministries, Inc. 1998</ref> <ref>“This law is considered the most powerful and most fundamental generalization about the universe that scientists have ever been able to make. No one knows why energy is conserved... All that anyone can say is that in over a century and a quarter of careful measurement scientists have never been able to point to a definite violation of energy conservation, either in the familiar everyday surroundings about us, or in the heavens above or in the atoms within.” Isaac Asimov, Smithsonian Institution Journal, 1970, p.6 [http://www.trueorigin.org/steiger.asp (quoted)] </ref>; the amount of energy in the closed system of the universe remains constant. This can be combined with the principle of [[Mass-Energy Equivalence]] to demonstrate that the amount of mass in the [[universe]] is constant.
A ramification of this is the [[Conservation of Energy|Principle of conservation of energy]];<ref>Wile, Dr. Jay L. ''Exploring Creation With Chemistry''. Apologia Educational Ministries, Inc. 1998</ref><ref>“This law is considered the most powerful and most fundamental generalization about the universe that scientists have ever been able to make. No one knows why energy is conserved... All that anyone can say is that in over a century and a quarter of careful measurement scientists have never been able to point to a definite violation of energy conservation, either in the familiar everyday surroundings about us, or in the heavens above or in the atoms within.” Isaac Asimov, Smithsonian Institution Journal, 1970, p.6 [http://www.trueorigin.org/steiger.asp (quoted)]</ref> the amount of energy in the [[closed system]] of the universe remains constant. This can be combined with the principle of [[e=mc^2|Mass-Energy Equivalence]] to demonstrate that the amount of mass in the [[universe]] is constant. Note that if no energy [[heat]] is added, then the maximum amount of [[work]] that can be performed by the system is equal to its initial internal energy. This prevents the existence of a type of [[perpetual motion machine]].More generally, if no [[energy]] is added to a system, the maximum amount of [[work]] the system can perform is equal to its initial energy. This may be in several forms, such as [[kinetic energy]] or [[potential energy]].
== The 1st and 2nd law of thermodynamics and the universe having a beginning ==
''See also:'' [[Atheism and the origin of the universe]]
According to Ohio State University professor Patrick Woodward, the First Law of Thermodynamics "simply states that energy can be neither created nor destroyed (conservation of energy)."<ref>[https://chemistry.osu.edu/~woodward/ch121/ch5_law.htm 1st Law of Thermodynamics], Ohio State University, Professor Pat Woodward (teaches for the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry[https://chemistry.osu.edu/faculty/woodward])</ref>
The [[Christian apologetics]] website ''Why believe in God?'' declares about the [[Second Law of Thermodynamics]]:
[[Category:PhysicsThermodynamics]]