CHAPTER I:  OVERVIEW

• Thermodynamics Information:  Example of a useful web site for alternative explanations.
• The Earth:  A view of our world from space.
• Daily T:  The diurnal variation of temperature in response to the changing energy balance.
• Seeded Stratus:  Air Force photo showing the effect of dry-ice seeding on supercooled stratus cloud.
• Sea Breeze:  Example of atmospheric circulations induced by differential warming of the surface.
• Small Cb:  Photo of cumulonimbus cloud with pileus, showing the rapid upward motion of air.
• Mid-latitude Cyclone:  Satellite photo of cold-core cyclone.
• Vertical Motions:  Schematic diagram of upward-moving air that cools because it does work on its environment.
• Temperature Profile:  The vertical variation of temperature, showing the layered structure to the atmosphere.
• Pressure Profile:  Plot showing that pressure varies monotonically with altitude.
• Skew T Diagram:  Plot of the mean temperature on a "Skew T - Log p" diagram.
• SI Units:  A table showing the primary units used in the International System of measurements.
• Units Conversion:  Tables showing the relationships between units and the SI prefixes.
• Family Tree:  Four next pages depict the history of thermodynamics:  P1, P2, P3, P4




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Forces:  Cartoon depicting the various kinds of forces found in nature.

Work at Constant Pressure:  Schematic illustrating the work achieved during the expansion of a gas in a cylinder.

Escher Sketch:  Example of a process violating thermodynamical principles.

Fixed Points:  Table of physically based temperatures used for calibration in thermometry.

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Law of Boyle:  Schematic of the apparatus used by Boyle to show gas behavior at constant T.

Laws of Charles and Gay-Lussac:  Apparatus used to show gas behavior at constant p and at constant V.

Ideal Gas Laws:  The relationships between the main thermodynamic variables as given by the ideal gas law.

Real Gases:  Data for several real gases plotted as pv vs. p in low (top) and high (bottom) pressure ranges.

Compressibility Factor:  The compressibility factor Z for methane at three different temperatures.

CO2 Isotherms:  The partial pressure of CO2 plotted against volume for various constant temperatures.

N2 Speeds:  The distributions of molecular speeds of N2 at two different temperatures.

Molecular Speeds:  The distributions of the molecular speeds of N2 and of He at one temperature.

Excluded Volume:  The concept of excluded volume shown schematically for two colliding molecules.

Molecular Potenial:  The interaction potential energy of two molecules at various separation distances.

van der Waals Constants:  A table of empirical values used in the van der Waals equation for various gases.

van der Waals Equation:  Isotherms calculated from the vander Waals equation of state.

Experimental Comparison:  The calculated isotherms for CO2 compared with isotherms from experimental data.

Gas Collisions:  Schematic showing a molecule encountering other molecules in its path.

Vertical Forces:  The balance of forces used to derive the hydrostatic equation for fluids.

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• Math Function:  Schematic of a function of two variables, which is represented by a surface in space.
• Differential Relationships:  A plot of the ideal-gas law with small changes in T and v superimposed.
• Specific Heats:  Table of values for selected solids and gases.
• Heat Capacity of Water:  A plot of the molar heat capacity of water versus temperature.  The high specific heat of liquid water is due in large part to the "configurational" component arising from changes in molecular potential energy.


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Mechanical Systems:  Examples of spontaneous processes.

Entropy Change:  Schematic of energy flow that can develop work, while transfering entropy from the hot to cold reservoirs.

Heat Transfer:  Diagram contrasting irreversible and reversible transfers of energy.

Entropy Maximum:  Cartoon showing that entropy reaches a maximum when the system reaches equilibrium.

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• Isothermal Compression:  Schematic and plot showing liquid formation during compression of a vapor at constant temperature.
• Phase Diagram:  Conventional plot of equilibrium pressures and temperatures along the various phase transitions of water.
• 3-D Phase Diagram:  Schematic showing the relationships between the pressure, volume and temperature of water.


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Basic Diagram:  Stuve diagram on which one can plot variables as a function of pressure or altitude in the atmosphere.

Skew-T Diagram:  Standard meteorological diagram for plotting temperatures and dew points.

Big Thompson Sounding:  Upper-air data from the Big Thompson Canyon storm of July 1976.

Temperature-humidity Parameters:

     Plot   Graphical summary of the various temperatures and their corresponding potential temperatures.
     TableSummary of the parameter names and symbols.

Measured and Computed Temperatures:  Sounding that compares T, Td, theta and theta-e.

Idealized Sounding:  Contrived sounding to show relationship between parcel and environmental temperatures.

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