My Biochemistry book states the First law of Thermodynamics like this: "The First Law of Thermodynamics states that in a closed system, energy is conserved". My book defines Closed System as a system which can exchange energy with its surroundings but not matter. My doubt is how can energy be remain conserved(constant) if the system can exchange energy with its surroundings. Please clarify.
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2$\begingroup$ You are right. Internal energy can change in a closed system. Your book statements are misleading. The first law of thermodynamics considers the energy balance of your system (internal energy) keeping into account the work exchange and heat exchange between your system and the surrounding environment. Isolated system do not exchange matter nor energy. $\endgroup$– FabioCommented Jun 3, 2020 at 17:02
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$\begingroup$ Are you sure it does not use "isolated" rather than "closed"? In any case, energy is always conserved for the usual systems of interest. The first law is a restatement of this property. $\endgroup$– Buck Thorn ♦Commented Jun 6, 2020 at 18:45
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$\begingroup$ It states like this: "The first law of thermodynamics states that in a closed system energy is conserved. In other words, although energy can be transferred between the system and the surrounding in different ways, in chemical process we will consider here, energy can neither be created nor destroyed." $\endgroup$– Nikhil VermaCommented Jun 7, 2020 at 13:21
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$\begingroup$ You deleted another question which actually was interesting but somewhat unclear. In essence melting of ice is accompanied by an increase in the entropy ("disorder") of water. However, energy has to be transferred into the ice for this to take place. That transfer results in cooling of the surrounding and thereby in a loss of entropy of the surrounding. $\endgroup$– Buck Thorn ♦Commented Jun 8, 2020 at 14:23
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2 Answers
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You can think of the first law of thermodynamics as an energy accounting method. It says that all inputs and outputs of energy should add up to the total change in the energy of a system. The exchanged energy is generally classified as work or heat. By "energy can neither be created nor destroyed," it is meant that nuclear reactions, in which the structure of nuclei changes with accompanying transformation of matter into energy and vice-versa, will not be considered. The reactions considered are ordinary chemical reactions involving making and breaking of chemical bonds resulting from interactions between electrons and nuclei.
answered Jun 8, 2020 at 14:19
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Your book is misleading. It should have stated "An isolated system", but probably for the sake of convenience, mentioned "closed", ignoring the fact that closed has a completely different terminology.
As an isolated system can exchange neither energy nor matter, there is no form of energy entering or exiting it.
Thus the correct statement would be that "The total energy in an isolated system remains constant".
answered Jun 8, 2020 at 15:30