Thermodynamics is the branch of physics that describes the transformation of a system in terms of matter and energy. I will not go into details, but I think that the thermodynamics and in particular the two principles are basic and that their knowledge and study is a must for areas other than technical. The principles of thermodynamics should be the basis of politics, economy and even philosophy and religion. Should lay the theoretical basis of any action or project involving the exploitation of resources and energy. For more should be taught since elementary school in a simplified form, conveying their deep meaning.
The first law of thermodynamics says that more energy can not be created or destroyed, only converted from one form to another. It is also called the principle of conservation of energy. All we know, but maybe we never used as a guiding principle behind our choices.
is an energy balance to be maintained unchanged because nothing can appear or disappear by magic. If this principle were the foundation of our progress, perhaps we will have less waste and more attention to our actions. If our resources (both energy and material) can be neither created nor destroyed, that means are limited, countable, finite. It is a trite principle if you will. Even a child of seven years can be taught in a basket that if there are 5 apples and the family is composed of five people will never lie more than an apple apiece. It will be logical, it will be obvious, but is often ignored.
The second principle is perhaps less logical and less popular. Everyone knows that energy can neither be created nor destroyed, but few know that the energy in its processing deteriorates more and more. This is what it claims the second law of thermodynamics, which introduces a new physical variable: entropy. Entropy is a quantity that assesses the disorder of a macroscopic system, the greater the entropy the greater the disorder in the system. The deterioration of energy is precisely due to the increase of entropy of the system (considered to be isolated) and that the increase in the disorder. According to the Kelvin-Planck statement, is "impossible to create a cyclic transformation whose only result is the transformation of work in all the heat absorbed from a homogeneous source. " This means that in the transition from energy as heat (heat boiler) to work (mechanical energy) the budget is not equal, but a certain amount of heat must be dispersed so that the cycle can repeat. Also because of the irreversibility (friction, viscosity, inelastic) in the end the system that has undergone the transformation has an entropy greater than the first, then the entropy difference in energy is not conserved. The loss of quality of energy is inevitable in the case of real transformations. In fact, another way of stating the second law is to assert that the entropy of an isolated system never decreases. In the universe, seen as all-encompassing environment, the entropy is constantly increasing, the disorder is growing thanks to the transformations that are not reversible.
The two principles of thermodynamics impose limits to our physical world, to our development, our way of thinking about the future. The energy we use every day is not only limited but also worsen the time. Every movement has an impact on our environment, only
very existence in itself has an impact on our exterior. For this reason we speak of equilibrium and non-zero impact. Similarly, the so-called renewable energies and famous, while not emitting pollutants into the air, can have a huge impact on the environment, it is just to calculate the effects and benefits and to find the right compromise.
The real problem is that our economy and politics has completely ignored the laws of thermodynamics, stopping at the mechanics of Newton. The first step to improve our conditions for the future will be to reform the foundations of the economy as points of departure the principles of conservation of energy and increasing entropy.
Guido Dalla Casa said: "This is not a problem of depletion of resources, but the impossibility of continuation of such a system of economic production-consumption trade-in Biosphere, which is a complex system that works away from thermodynamic equilibrium steady state, that is, in essence acts as a single living organism "[8].
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