The First Law

The First Law of Thermodynamics, or "The First Law" as it is more commonly referred to. Both one of the most important and basic laws of the universe, as well as one of the most misunderstood laws in the universe. A more common phrasing of the First Law usually goes along the lines of this:

"The First Law of Thermodynamics states that energy cannot be created or destroyed."

An observation which, at least as far as our day-to-day lives are concerned, is extremely accurate. However when we begin to observe the universe under much stricter conditions, we find that this rendition of the First Law does not truly hold. Two such examples are quantum physics (the physics of the very, very small) and cosmogeny (the study of how the universe itself formed), which I will not delve into too much at the moment, but may make a post on in the near future about.

Today our goal will be a better understanding of the often misunderstood First Law. So, what is the First Law? Well, as with nearly everything in modern physics, it is a mathematical model. An equation used to explain observations that we make of the universe around us. The equation in question being:

                                                  dU= Q - W

 *Where Q and W are equal to the net energy and work (or use of energy) in the system

This presents to us our first impasse. How do we convert math into pure words? Well, with the First Law, it is relatively easy, and it actually includes some of our original statement about the first law, albeit with an added addendum. A more concise wording of the First Law, however, would be along the lines of:

"The net energy in any closed system will remain constant."

Or:

"The net energy at any point, at time, in any [closed] system will be equal to the net energy of the system's initial state."

Why does this matter? At first it seems that I have done nothing but simply change words, but a closer examination of the phrasing used will reveal a difference which in actuality is quite large. And the word here is "constant".

But, one might ask, how this change everything, or anything at all for that matter? Well, it allows us to do the equivalent of multiplying by 1. Meaning that we can change Q and W for ANY quantity we wish so long as the final answer (dU) remains the same.

And what does this mean for us? Well, our universe has a net energy of zero, or in simpler terms, it is a system in which the Q and W cancel out perfectly. This opens up many doors for the spontaneous creation of the universe from essentially nothing, something which is actually doable under the laws of quantum mechanics, and has actually been, to some degree, indirectly observed through the presence of the ghostly "Virtual Particles" that are a relatively common product of the "quantum jitters" that our universe constantly feels.

Of course, because I promised  I wouldn't go into cosmogeny, I won't go much further into that then this and save it for a later post.