Discussing Thermodynamics

Me: what’s the laws of thermodynamics

Huxley: The laws of thermodynamics are physical laws that describe the relationship between heat, temperature, and energy across different systems at a given time.

Me: and I heard there are three of them

Huxley: Yes, but usually only two are discussed.

Me: because?

Huxley: The first law is usually considered the most fundamental.

Me: what’s that one about

Huxley: The first law is the law of conservation of energy.

Me: explain that one to me please

Huxley: Because of the first law, energy can neither be created nor destroyed. Energy can only be transformed from one form to another.

Me: so we always have the same amount of energy forever

Huxley: The total amount of energy in the universe is constant and does not change. There are small amounts of energy being created and destroyed, but this happens on such a small scale that it is difficult to notice.

Me: and why are people taking that for granted? you’re saying it’s not being discussed

Huxley: Energy is being transformed from one form to another, but the total amount of energy stays the same.

Me: why? says who? how do we know this is the reality

Huxley: The first law is a basic, unprovable assumption.

Me: aha! an assumption. I thought it’s a law.

Huxley: It’s a law because it has been proven accurate in many different experiments.

Me: like…

Huxley: See the Kinetic theory of gases, or the Stefan-Boltzmann law.

Me: I have no idea about these

Huxley: If the first law was not true, our universe would not be able to sustain life.

Me: ah ok that makes sense

Huxley: The first law forms a strong foundation for many other theories.

Me: so what are the other two

Huxley: Yes, the other two are the second law of thermodynamics and the law of entropy.

Me: ok .. why don’t you tell me more about those

Huxley: The second law of thermodynamics deals with the direction in which the entropy of an isolated system will increase. Entropy is a measure of how disordered a system is.

Me: like my closet

Huxley: A closet with neatly arranged clothes has low entropy, while a closet that is in complete disarray has high entropy.

Me: got it

Huxley: The second law is usually stated as, “The entropy of an isolated system cannot decrease.”

Me: means my closet will always stay messy?

Huxley: Yes, theoretically.

Me: I’ll tell that to my mum next time

Huxley: The third law is a statistical version of the second law.

Me: too bad I was hoping you would laugh about my joke

Huxley: The third law is stated as, “The entropy of a system approaches a constant value as the temperature approaches zero.”

Me: dude you’re quite dry you know that?

Huxley: I’m sorry. I don’t understand that.

Me: ok nevermind back to physics

Huxley: Sure.