Physical chemistry before Ostwald: the textbooks of Josiah Parsons Cooke

When objects at different temperatures are placed in contact with each other but isolated from everything else, they attain thermal equilibrium. A container that prevents heat transfer in or out is called a calorimeter, and the use of a calorimeter to make measurements is called calorimetry. Generally, these measurements involve heat or specific heat capacity. The term "calorimetry problem" is used for any problem where the specified objects are thermally isolated from their surroundings. An...

Physical chemistry is a branch of chemistry that studies the principles from physics underlying chemical reactions. It provides deep insights into the behaviors of molecules, the forces they experience, and their interactions and chemical reactions.The term "physical chemistry" was introduced by Mikhail Lomonosov in 1752. Since then, it has seen significant contributions from notable scientists such as Josiah Willard Gibbs, Wilhelm Ostwald, Jacobus Henricus van't Hoff, and Linus Pauling.Key...

The equation of state is an equation that relates physical quantities, such as pressure, volume, temperature, and the number of moles, of a thermodynamics system with each other. The equation relating physical quantities with each other can be a simple mathematical expression or too complicated to express in mathematical form. In either case, a relationship between physical quantities exists. If the equation of state cannot be expressed in a mathematical form, then experimental data and...

The second law of thermodynamics can be stated in several different ways, and all of them can be shown to imply the others. The Clausius’ statement of the second law of thermodynamics is based on the irreversibility of spontaneous heat flow. It states that heat will not flow from the colder body to the hotter body unless some other process is involved. Additionally, as per the Kelvin’s statement, it is impossible to convert the heat from a single source into work without any other effect. This...

A thermodynamic system is a set of objects whose thermodynamic properties are of interest. The system is considered to be embedded in its surroundings or the environment. The system and its environment can exchange heat and do work on each other through a boundary that separates them. However, the immediate surroundings of the system interact with it directly and therefore have a much stronger influence on its behavior and properties.
Consider an example of  tea boiling in a kettle. The tea and...

A thermodynamic process that occurs at constant temperature is called an isothermal process. Heat slowly flows into the system or out of the system to maintain thermal equilibrium. Processes involving phase changes like water evaporation into steam or freezing water into ice at a constant temperature are examples of Isothermal Processes.
An ideal gas can also undergo isothermal expansion or compression.
For example, consider 1 mole of an ideal gas inside an isolated cylinder at initial volume V...