Georgia Institute of Technology
School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences
Fall 2003
Syllabus
Part 1: Introduction
Introduction
- What is thermodynamics? Why study thermodynamics of the Earth system?
- Thermodynamic systems: composition and state; system vs the environment; open or closed or isolated; boundaries of a system and the environment,
- Thermodynamic state of a system: state variables (intensive and extensive); thermodynamic properties; equation of state
- State variables: pressure, temperature, volume/density; units
Composition and structure of components of the earth system
- Composition: atmosphere, ocean, solid earth
- Pressure: units; vertical variations in the atmosphere, ocean, solid earth; space/time variability
- Density (specific volume): units; vertical variations in the atmosphere, ocean, solid earth
- Temperature: units; vertical variations in the atmosphere, ocean, and solid earth; space/time variability
- Hydrostatic equation: application to ocean and hypothetical constant density atmosphere; solid earth
Equation of state
- Ideal gas law
- Kinetic-molecular model of the ideal gas
- Equation of state for air: Dalton's law of partial pressures; virtual temperature
- Hypsometric equation (atmosphere)
- Equation of state for real gases, liquids, and solids
- Equation of state for seawater
- (solid earth??)
Part 2: Framework
First Law of thermodynamics
- Basic concepts
- Mathematical review: differentials and derivatives, exact differentials,
- Work; expansion work
- Heat: heat capacity, basics of heat transfer mechanisms
- First law of thermodynamics: internal energy, enthalpy, specific heats
- Heat capacity: equipartition of energy in ideal gases; specific heat capacity of sea water; Debye and Dulong-Petit equation for solids
- Applications of first law to ideal gases: Poisson's relations
Entropy and the 2nd law (2 weeks)
- Entropy: reversible and irreversible processes; Clausius inequality; Boltzmann-Gibbs statistical picture of entropy
- 2nd Law of thermodynamics
- First and second laws combined: Legendre transformations: Gibbs and Helmholtz functions; thermodynamic equilibrium
- Thermodynamic relations: Maxwell relations; relations involving specific heats
- Adiabatic processes in the dry atmosphere, ocean, and mantle and core
- Static stability
- Entropy and diffusive processes (heat conduction, viscosity, etc)
- Entropy, heat, and the 3rd law
Phase Equilibria
- Gibbs phase rule: thermodynamic degrees of freedom, phases and components
- Energy in phase changes and chemical reactions
- Phase equilibria: chemical potential and multicomponent systems (Gibbs-Duhem); latent heat; Clapeyron equation (first latent heat law) and Kirchoff's equation (second latent heat law)
- Application to water (single component system): phase diagram; Clausius-Clapeyron equation
- Binary phase diagrams (water solution): simple eutectics, lever rule
- Crystallization in binary systems: equilibrium crystallization, fractional crystallization, melting
Part 3: Applications
Moist thermodynamic processes in the atmosphere
- Humidity variables
- Isobaric cooling: dew point and frost point; radiation fog
- Cooling and moistening by evaporation of water: wetbulb temperature; prefrontal rain fog
- Saturation by adiabatic, isobaric mixing: steam fog and jet contrails
- Saturated adiabatic cooling: equivalent potential temperature; saturated adiabatic lapse rate, adiabatic liquid water content; convective cloud formation
- Aerological diagrams
Physical chemistry of water solutions (1 week)
- Fugacity and activity
- Ideal solutions
- Colligative properties
- (Real solutions: variation of activities)
- Aeorosols (deliquescence-efflourescence; surface energy-Kelvin effect; applications using ISORROPIA)
Petrology
- Geothermometry and geobarometry
- Melting beneath mid0icean ridges and composition of oceanic crust
- Magmatic fractionation and layered intrusions
Planetary Science Applications
- Radiant energy
- Composition and mass of planets, planetary atmospheres
- Planetary energy balance
- Water on the terrestrial planets
- Surface ice