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Applications and the Future of Thermodynamics
The subject of thermodynamics is the study of energy and power. It is used to analyze and design certain kinds of energy-based devices, machines and systems in engineering and technology, and for the diagnosis and general improvements of the same. There are many categories of applications of thermodynamics, perhaps the two most common being power producing machines, i.e., engines and motors; and power consuming systems like refrigeration and air-conditioning systems. (See Introduction to Engineering & Technology and The impact of technology in science).
The entire subject of thermodynamics is based on a knowledge and understanding of the properties and behaviors of the materials employed to these thermodynamic ends, namely the solids, liquids, gases and plasmas utilized in the devices and machines the subject produces. For example, the properties of refrigerants in the saturated liquid-vapor, low superheated-vapor and near subcooled-liquid regions of their phase diagrams are important in the study of refrigeration and air-conditioning systems, while the properties of gases in the upper superheated-vapor regions are important to the study of internal combustion engines and other similar power-producing devices and machines. Many of these substances are fossil-based: like oil, gasoline, kerosene and diesel fuels; while others come from renewable sources such as solar energy, water, wind power and electricity. Yet another source of power is nuclear energy, which is strictly neither fossil-based nor renewable.
Notwithstanding those components of thermodynamics theory that delve heavily into the combustion of fossil fuels to produce power, because of the damaging effects of climate change on the environment and all life on the planet, the policies of many countries around the world are leaning towards the complete phase-out of the internal combustion engine by sometime around the middle of this century, and the adoption of electric-driven automobiles and other electric-driven transport-related machines in their stead.
With any new technology comes new unknown things to consider, namely its long-term impacts and performance issues, and some of these may present challenges to overcome. For example, it would be important for us to know the health effects of all thermodynamic substances and sources of energy on life. Fossil fuels and nuclear energy in their present demands have been around and in use for a relatively long time; and so, their toxic, radiative and polluting effects, and methods of control or containment, are well known. On the other hand, although the electrocutory effects of electricity are also well known (from around the time when electricity was first discovered and used as a form of execution), the long and short term effects of low levels of artificial electricity and magnetism pervading the environment (the atmosphere) resulting from a thermodynamic paradigm shift (along with the rapid advancement and proliferation of atmospheric electronic communication and automation devices and systems) are relatively new and remain underdetermined. Therefore, in the push for electrification (or in the least, some form of hybrid electrification) as an alternative to conventional thermodynamic methods of producing and harnessing power, it is incumbent that the effects of mild, but chronic, exposure to artificial electricity and magnetism must continue to be studied.
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