Thermodynamics 101

This is useful, I promise

If you’re like me, and glaze over at theoretical math and physics, it can be hard to generate enthusiasm for caring about all those equations and laws and science stuff. What does this have to do with daily life, or making buildings, or living in buildings, or doing business?

Turns out, quite a lot - and now that I’ve taught college courses in building science, I’ve tried to help students see the connections between the theoretical and the practical, as it all plays out in buildings. I’m looking forward to bringing y’all some of that content in this and future newsletters!

Ok, let’s dive in.

First, a quick lesson in how thermodynamics work. You already know a lot of this, starting with the biggie: hot things always cool down, unless you intervene in some way - aka, hot flows to cold. So, a hot cup of coffee will become cool if you don’t put it in an insulated cup, to slow down its heat loss, or add more heat to it [put it in the microwave, say] to make up for that heat loss. Even then, eventually, it will still cool. How cool does it get? Well, it will get as cool as the ambient temperature around it, in other words, it won’t get colder than the air around it. If it did, then the “heat” from the ambient temperature would flow back into the coffee.