ABSTRACT
Thermodynamics deals with the exchange and transformation of energy and matter between a system and its surroundings. It is based on two universal principles and may therefore be applied to any process occurring in nature, in engineering, or wherever. Thus, thermodynamics is a powerful intellectual method to help us understand the world around us. The problem to solve is taken from the “real world, physical world” into the “world of the mind” by introducing abstract concepts like energy, entropy, chemical potential, etc. Then, in the abstract world of our minds, we use mathematics to work on the problem. The solution will consequently present itself in terms of these abstract notions. By way of example, the thermodynamic answer to the question as to the equilibrium distribution of a compound partitioning between two phases is equal values for the chemical potential of that component in the two phases. Now, to bring back the thermodynamic solution into the real world we have to call upon model-assumptions, such as, for instance, ideal behavior of a solution or a gas. Thus, by taking a thermodynamic detour, a large collection of relations between (experimentally) observable variables may be derived.
