Thermodynamics: What do HEAT and WORK really mean? | Basics of Thermodynamics

"Work" and "heat" are commonly used words in everyday life. But they mean very specific things in the physics field of thermodynamics.
Hey everyone, in this (rather short) video I wanted to discuss the exact definitions of the words "work" and "heat" in a thermodynamic context. These words are very easy to get confused, especially because their definitions have subtleties to them that are difficult to teach and understand.
And then there's the added complexity that these two words are used in day-to-day language to mean very different things to what they mean thermodynamically. So it's important to really nail the definitions right at the outset, before delving more into the world of thermodynamics.
Work in thermodynamics is a specialisation of the physics definition of "work". This is often defined as a force x a distance moved by the force, but in thermodynamics it refers to the energy transferred to / from the system, in a way that involves the presence of detectable macroscopic (large scale) forces. Other energy transfers certainly involve microscopic (small scale) forces, but for an energy transfer to be defined as work, large scale forces must exist.
Heat is the other kind of energy transfer - one where NO large scale forces are involved (assuming we're dealing with a closed system). In other words, assuming our system is not exposed to the external environment, any energy transfer that is not work, must be heat by definition.
If you enjoyed this video please do hit the thumbs up button, and subscribe for more physics content! Head over to my second channel, "Parth G's Shenanigans" if you want to hear some music, and follow me on Instagram @parthvlogs - thanks for watching :D

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I am a simple man. I see Parth, I click.

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Well said! And when it's Parth AND thermodynamics on the billboard, it's guaranteed to be a treat!

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Im having my midterm tomorrow and one of the chapters i have to cover is thermodynamics and Maxwell s ecuations so thank you for your videos. They really help!

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Parth: simplified version of heat and thermodynamics. Me: hit subscribe button press bell icon and give thumbs up.

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This is so clear. Thank you Parth G.

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[@eduardoschweitzer1152]

I'd love to see a video about the Navier-Stokes equation. Great video btw

[@TomTom-rh5gk]

You admit the truth. None of us understand thermodynamics completely. I have learned lot from your video.

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The MASTA has just uploaded!!

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Channel is growing...👍👍👍

[@akahassan2527]

Great video! Great explanation! Well done! I have got a quick question though: Can free electrons ( not interacting with electromagnetism) or other kind of leptons exist in room temperature?

[@Ubuchy]

I like the animations. Nice WORK 😁

[@HillCountryDemo]

Parth thanks for the great video.

[@remidanvin4057]

Ok this was good definition of what it cover but I was expecting more about thermodynamics. But well done to find the time to do these videos.

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Bro I never thought Mo Salah can teach me Thermodynamics.

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Really your teaching is Awesome.

[@Demonprinz1]

Nice video to tip the toe into the topic of thermodynamics. I think a follow up video, maybe looking at the ways that heat transfers (radiation, convection, conduction and advection) would be nice. I think it's hard to distinguish between heat and work in the drawings, because it seems like in both cases it's just one particle hitting another. I'd love to see a few more videos to thermodynamics because in my opinion it is quite fascinating but takes a hell lot time to properly understand. And then there are things like S=k_b*ln(W) which just comes out of nothing.... well I know the statistical approach tells that S in Boltzmann's relation works out to be the thermodynamic entropy but its still hard to grasp for me how Boltzmann linked the macroscopic world to the microscopic phase space that "easily".

[@laurenzkeller4971]

Could you make a video on statistical mechanics? It seems that there's not much about this topic on youtube. Great video!

[@avirupbose3403]

Thanks for defining them. Most of people think heat and work done on the system are same 👍👍👍

[@sagittarius5315]

Great job specially work was great schools need to be like this :)

[@subita7835]

It would be amazing if you could do some Electromagnetism videos. Videos on topics like faraday and lenz’s laws, Electromagnetic induction and motion of particles in a magnetic field would be really useful as for A-Level Physics they are very conceptually hard!

[@quahntasy]

*The MASTA upload after 3 weeks*

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Parth i love your channel very much.Have been following your work since you were at 6k.

[@ParthGChannel]

Thank you for your support!!

[@priyadarshiniacharya7071]

@@ParthGChannel I got a reply from you....Thank you very much

[@wagneralbuquerque3029]

Esse canal é muito bom!!

[@knowledgeseeker9757]

Please do a video on Magnetic Vector and Scalar potential.

[@SudhirKumar-jx4jj]

Hi Parth Please make a video on the concept of Tensors.

[@MrWhyWhyWhy]

Good content.

[@klawtawar]

My kid name is also Parth and he likes to watch your videos, thanks for making this videos.

[@d.tghenaabbas8424]

keep up the good work 👏

[@Theturbotaste]

Thank you

[@Ottmar555]

I like this definition of thermodynamic work better (Principles of Thermodynamics, Ansermet & Brechlet, 2019). 1.- For every system, there is a scalar extensive state function called energy (E). When the system is isolated, the energy is conserved. 2.- When the system interacts with its environment, the energy evolution results from the power of the processes exerted on the system. 3.- PW represents the mechanical power associated with the work performed by the environment on the system that results in a deformation of the system without any change in its state of motion, in particular its kinetic energy. I really suggest you this book. I also really like Thermodynamics: Principles and Applications by Ismail Tosun. It's more engineering oriented, but it has great explanations and intuition.

[@mikeb2644]

Really great. Clearly defined. And you're very, very easy to watch and listen to. (You remind me of one of my favorite internet science teachers-- Dr Mike of Dr Matt and Dr Mike. In my book, that's a huge compliment.) THE FOLLOWING IS MY QUESTION-------------------- I have a question about the box with the fire under it. The molecules in the box would vibrate, and then the molecules in the air surrounding the box would vibrate-- those things would be the transfer of heat. Right? But the box might also start to shake and move. Would that be work? ********************************************************************************* Thank you again for the great video. I look forward to watching others. (And I also want to thank for the animations. I wish more chemistry videos would use them, since movement is at the heart of so many chemical, biological and physiological phenomena.

[@kayrstar8965]

Some mechanics topic plzz...moment of inertia(,and also radius of gyration) is the topic i would like to be handled by you👍👌and this video was as all of your previous vids ,crystal clear

[@rockbore]

Two suggestions for vids. 1 Show how the Apollo crew were cold while flying in sunlight. 2 Show how the Radiation belts are not deadly as Dr James van Allen reported following his survey with Explorer 3 3 How probable was the L.O.R. operation to lose no lives after 6 missions.

[@Demonprinz1]

Regarding your first question, thermal energy can transfer by 3 (one could argue about 4 but thats fiddly and minor) major ways. One of them is radiation, which we experience when we sit in broad daylight. The other ways all need a medium to travel. This medium, some atoms kicking each other or vibrating or just moving, is rather rare in space thou which causes a rather poor transfer of thermal energy. Because of the very low pressure in space there is practically only radiation by which heat travels. Sadly radiation is a rather slow way to transfer thermal energy because of which it is not impossible to get cold in space even in full sunlight. Next up, one could argue standing a long time on front of the operating end of a X-Ray isn't deadly either, the cancer you'll win by this kill you, but I doubt this is your topic you want to get to. Van Allen Belt Radiation can be an acceptable risk when the shielding is thick enough. About 10 mm aluminium are capable to shield off most of the radiation and traveling fastly trough the van Allen Belts exposes the crew to a potentially non lethal dose of radiation. This does not mean the radiation is safe in any way, it just means it is possible to deal with it properly. Sadly the way to deal with the radiation increases the weight of a spacecraft quite considerably. Because of this it has gotten really expensive to fly people to the moon again, lowering the safety would be cheaper but is not an option. Actually to be honest your third point seems rather useless to me. The mission happened and they survived. They took risks they thought to be acceptable and came back. In hindsight the safety measures were lacking, of course, but in the times they were up to date. They leaned from previous mistakes, and did what they could to avoid them. If they didn't do that the deaths would have been in vain, and it'd be an insult to their families. Was there still a risk? Of cause. Did literally anyone know that? Of course. Still, now we can measure the distance to the moon by shining a laser at the mirrors they left there whenever we want (only during unclouded nighttimes of course but hey thats kinda obvious).

[@ClemoVernandez]

thermodynamics I think has the most conventions which make it difficult to understand even if the phenomenon is really intuitive

[@chaitanyasai4613]

Pls explain more topics like fluid mechanics, kinematics of motion, dynamics of motion, desgin of machine elements, heat mass and transfer.

[@harshdhanorkar5408]

Yeaaaa I am so happy!!

[@alinoon2546]

Lmao, u just summed up what my thermodynamics professor said in a week 😂ofc there was a bit more maths involved, great work

[@physicsconceptsbytusharkha7638]

Hello parth. Thanks for your videos. Can u please answer my question.. i can't derive it neither i can find the formula anywhere in books or internet. stone is attached at the end of a string. Another end is fixed to a big nail pierced in wall. The stone is given such a motion initially that it now performs veritcal circular motion(velocity at top sqaure root of rg which is the minimum condition for vertical circular motion) What will be the time period of this motion.

[@akashattri3217]

What does 'Principle of Entropy Increase' mean , what is the result/effect of it on universe.

[@tedarcher9120]

I love your accent, soo soothing

[@harshgandhi100]

Wild head shakes and grins!!

[@doinggood3564]

Make video on navier stokes equation...if u can...

[@aniketkedare8]

hie can you make video on Differential equation in Physics and explain those equation

[@mortezakhoshbin]

hi.could we say shaking the box which molecules energy is getting more, is a kind of heat and we definite the work only as piston work? am i right. thanks

[@abhasoodan7982]

can you please make a video about convolution theorem with respect to laplace transform

[@vrashalikale1773]

Can you give idea on 'Scattering in quantum mechanics'

[@HamzaSabouni]

Never knew that Mo Salah is interested in physics or thermodynamics.

[@ramsesll2841]

I fucking get "THE PROFESSOR" Vibes when I see ya lmao Great video as always!

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plz make vdo on em wave

[@EngMoGo2010]

can you make a video about infrared radiation and temperature?, i am interested in thermography as it is part of my wor, but i really want to get down to the fundamental of it.

[@xiaoshen194]

I thought you would explain entropy also in detail. (You know, topic like multiplicity, etc.)

[@kevindaniel8249]

How come I'm seeing this now and not sooner? Amazing video nevertheless.

[@suhailkhanmn562]

Can you make a more detailed video on the same topic

[@vinodgarg997]

Hey Parth can you please make some videos on modern physics about transistor/diodes and also for some communication Your physics loving friend

[@johansharma4109]

Nice video. One thing.....if there is no atmosphere outside the box i.e. vacuum outside the box then work done by gas is 0

[@yadhu-ek6zs]

Sir, i want know about capacitance?

[@nathangrant1824]

could you say something about the pressure gradient of a gas in a container subject to the force of gravity? this seems a bit of a vague question and an answer with too much maths is going to go over my head. i was wondering if there would always be a gradient even with very high pressure and heat, even if that gradient was extremely hard to measure or could only be determined by a statistically minded maxwell's demon analysing the motion of the gas at every point of space in the container. thanks for any thoughts you may have and can take the time to share.

[@Wadha111]

Nice video, can you talk about symmetry in physics in your new video? Thank you :)

[@nikolashadjipaschalis5629]

yes pls more thermo (getting ready for physical chemistry) ya know physics topics that help us chemists too like enthalpy internal energy equations ideal gases ...🙃

[@Demonprinz1]

You might consider looking at Khan Academys videos. Those helped me a lot when i was preparing for my physical chemistry exams.

[@mahadevprasanth1697]

Can you explain entropy?

[@tomzifertomzifer6944]

Maybe define box in your model vs all possible boxes

[@Mona-cj4nt]

I would like to ask about examples in our lives we use heat and work?

[@419er]

What camera do you have?

[@gabrielepi.3208]

I have a question. What is the nature of Electric Charge? Why an electron has a negative charge, and especially what negative charge really means...? Thanks

[@selestial]

subscribed

[@thehillcaliboy7855]

Sir It will be very helpful fr me if u explain entropy too please make video on it because it also a very complicated phenomena in thermodynamic 🙏🏻🙏🏻❤

[@ChiDraconis]

"entropy" is a good way to sell $45,000 in books ~ use the simplified explanation the least energy state most systems tend toward least-energy if we discard Lab Queen to show unique events

[@zulqarnainchaughtai]

Is there any difference between thermal and kinetic energy?

[@eduardoalcamino4162]

I have an unrelated question, but pls answer: General relativity works great to predict movement of mercury for example, but doesn’t at galaxy level sizes, as there is allot of matter that isn’t taken into account(dark matter), so why don’t they apply a constant that multiplies the formula to contrarest dark matter per unit of space, so at planetary scale it’s close to nothing, but at galaxy level sizes, it multiplies it by nearly 20, so 5% =>100% and then this thing would improve the formula. Pls someone answer, idk if this is just moving a operation that you had to do after, in the formula or not!

[@gunashekharramanathan9224]

I want to understand how electron of same charge rotate at different orbital. I know little about the orbital theory is not the perfect one. The probability theory is correct. But still could not able to imagine how really it should be electron revolving around the nucleus. Please have vedio on this topic.

[@hoysalaram9232]

Make videos on fluid mechanics application

[@anandoganiya9070]

Explain heat equation with calculus

[@aryajaiswal3974]

Can u teach us mechanics too? Plz

[@calebabudu831]

can you make a video about light

[@prashuchipandey5033]

So can I say that the major difference between work and heat (in thermodynamic terms) is that work is macroscopic?

[@ChiDraconis]

Given simplified: 2 Samples under an Illuminate "Heat Lamp" one is metal and the other is carpet so "where does the heat go" on the carpet as "violation of energy" nothing just disappears and how is it that metals "absorb" only the specific band is this matched to atoms resonance to that specific frequency then what of say the same 250Watts at near UV then why does the metal heat when only at a specific band? ( serious question / mechanic - physicist by nature )

[@maamar9200]

Hey! Thanks for the demonstration , I wanna know the deference between the heat transfer and thermodynamic

[@KomalSharma-lj5lc]

Thermodynamics mainly interested in heat or form of energy or the amount of heat whereas the determination of the rates of such energy transfers is Heat Transfer

[@debabratabhattacharya6069]

@@KomalSharma-lj5lc Heat is not a form of energy it is mode of energy transfer like work, afaik.

[@vijayakulasingamsinnadurai4054]

You got a very beautiful haircut there. I always wanted this video so thank you.

[@souray947]

Parth can u explain why heat isn't a state function?

[@prateekmourya9567]

Hey!!!! Thats approximately Feynman hairstyle!!

[@suhasmegharaj7464]

do u use ipad to make these videos???

[@Harsh_mecha]

Heat is a kind of energy transfer which takes place due to temperature difference and all other kind of energy transfer except heat is work, for eg- shaft work and paddle wheel work are not takes place due to temperature difference.

[@midnightstorm4290]

Do you think you would be able to teach us guitar too?

[@VaradMahashabde]

Heat : energy transfer we couldn't be bothered to track directly Work : energy transfer, but not heat Edit : one could say that the varibales regarding heat are distributed boltzmannly

[@WHYNKO]

Is that an acoustic bass Guitar in the background 😁🤔

[@tejasdeepsingh456]

BTW a quick question: What software do you use for editing your vids and how long does it take on avg to edit them?

[@nobisphysics7651]

adobe premiere pro I guess

[@tejasdeepsingh456]

@@nobisphysics7651 Probably

[@ParthGChannel]

I use Premiere Pro, and it usually takes me a total of 10-12 hours to make all the annotations and edit the full video

[@vatsan2483]

#parthsvlog Dude won't it be cool to show us ur Cambridge quarentine r we would love to see how ur day folds along..

[@vishnukurup8562]

If work is done by collision of particles and heat is also transferd by collision of particles then how is it any different ?

[@srivatsan29]

Does anyone know what software Parth is using to create the animations in his videos?

[@ParthGChannel]

I draw all the diagrams on a tablet, and then edit them into my video (including adding animations) in Adobe Premiere Pro!

[@srivatsan29]

@@ParthGChannel Thanks, Parth! The diagrams and animations are really well done.

[@XxPlayMakerxX131]

Littleraly uploaded after I finished my thermodynamics course.

[@AhmedKhan-cp4ko]

Haiiiir!!!!

[@abhinandanangra]

First view and first like

[@abhaysharma4545]

Parth.....I wanna be physicists ....but don't knw how can u give me sometips as to how to get into this......n pls make videos on mechanics

[@jeeadvanced2024]

Sir , please tell the definition of fire.

[@vivekpant8237]

Waiting for the other two Maxwell equation

[@arbaazpathan7018]

Bro i really want to know the difference between derivatives and integration By u

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Yes dude One ment change and Another ment calculating area unde curve...still considered as opposite

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Me2

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@Nasser Mohammed amazing .....😍

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@Nasser Mohammed Nasser bhai aap teacher ho

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@Nasser Mohammed why electrical engineering i mean Ur explanation is amazing 😍 i think u r verry much good in mathematics and physics u should consider that. I am also an electrical engineer and still very bad in maths😅 now i got interest towards physics.

[@douglasstrother6584]

"The Heat is On" ~ Glenn Frey (1984) (Used in "Beverly Hills Cop")