Introduction

Why Thermodynamics?

Thermodynamics governs everything from steam engines to black holes. It answers questions like: why does heat flow from hot to cold, what is the maximum efficiency of any engine, and why can't you unscramble an egg?

The four laws of thermodynamics are among the most fundamental in all of physics. Unlike quantum mechanics or relativity, they apply at every scale — from individual molecules to the entire universe.

How This Course Works

You will implement thermodynamic calculations in pure Python — no libraries, just the laws of physics expressed as functions. Each lesson introduces one concept, explains the math, and asks you to write the equation as code.

What You Will Learn

This course contains 15 lessons organized into 4 chapters:

1. Laws of Thermodynamics — Temperature scales, the First Law, heat capacity, the ideal gas law, and thermal expansion.
2. Thermodynamic Processes — Isothermal and adiabatic processes, entropy, Gibbs free energy, and entropy of mixing.
3. Heat Engines & Cycles — Carnot efficiency, the Carnot cycle, refrigerators, and heat pumps.
4. Statistical Thermodynamics — Boltzmann distribution, partition functions, and the Maxwell-Boltzmann speed distribution.

Let's start with temperature.