Funding in 2011: East heats up as West cools down

The work done by a thermodynamic system depends not only on the initial and final states but also on the intermediate states—that is, on the path. Like work, when heat is added to a thermodynamic system, it undergoes a change of state, and the state attained depends on the path from the initial state to the final state. Consider an ideal gas cylinder fitted with a piston. When the cylinder is heated at a constant temperature, the gas molecules absorb energy and expand slowly in a controlled...

Thermal Energy Microscopically, thermal energy is the kinetic energy associated with the random motion of atoms and molecules. Temperature is a quantitative measure of “hot” or “cold”, which depends on the amount of thermal energy. When the atoms and molecules in an object are moving or vibrating quickly, they have a higher average kinetic energy (KE) (or higher thermal energy), and the object is perceived as “hot”, or it is described as being at a higher temperature. When the atoms and...

Heat is a type of energy transfer that is caused by a temperature difference, and it can change the temperature of an object. Since heat is a form of energy, its SI unit is the joule (J). Another common unit of energy often used for heat is the calorie (cal), which is defined as the energy needed to change the temperature of 1 g of water by 1 °C, specifically between 14.5 °C and 15.5 °C, since the energy needed shows a slight temperature dependence. Another commonly used unit is the kilocalorie...

In convection, thermal energy is carried by the large-scale flow of matter. Ocean currents and large-scale atmospheric circulation, which result from the buoyancy of warm air and water, transfer hot air from the tropics toward the poles and cold air from the poles toward the tropics. The Earth’s rotation interacts with those flows, causing the observed eastward flow of air in the temperate zones. Convection dominates heat transfer by air, and the amount of available space for the airflow...

Throughout its ~4.5 billion year history, the Earth has experienced periods of warming and cooling. However, the current drastic increase in global temperatures is well outside of the Earth’s cyclic norms, and evidence for human-caused global climate change is compelling. Paleoclimatology, the study of ancient climate conditions, provides ample evidence for human-caused global climate change by comparing recent conditions with those in the past.

Work and heat are fundamental concepts in thermodynamics, denoting the transfer of energy. Work is the energy transferred due to the movement of an object under force, represented as the dot product of the force and displacement vectors. An example can be seen in a gas confined by a frictionless piston. The gas performs work on its surroundings when the piston moves outward, reducing the system's energy.This infinitesimal amount of work (dw) performed by the system against a constant external...