Thermodynamics

How to spell thermodynamics

14 letters · 5 syllables

How to pronounce thermodynamics

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does thermodynamics mean?

1. nounThe branch of physics concerned with heat, energy, work, and how they convert from one form to another.

Thermodynamics in a sentence

• The engineering degree includes a demanding module on thermodynamics.

• The second law of thermodynamics explains why heat flows from hot objects to cold ones.

Where does thermodynamics come from?

Language of origin: Greek

Thermodynamics is built from two Greek roots: thermē, meaning 'heat', and dynamis, meaning 'power' or 'force'. The same thermē sits inside everyday words such as 'thermometer' and 'thermal', while dynamis lies behind 'dynamic', 'dynamo', and even 'dynamite'. The word was coined in the nineteenth century as physicists worked to understand how heat could be turned into mechanical work, a question driven by the rise of the steam engine. The Scottish physicist William Thomson, later Lord Kelvin, helped popularise the term in the 1850s, and the field grew around the study of energy, work, and the famous laws governing them. The spelling trap is mostly in the joins: the 'thermo' element keeps its 'h' after the 't', and the central 'dynam' is easy to slip into 'dinam' because the 'y' sounds like a short 'i'.

How the word is built

• thermo- (from Greek thermē: heat)
• dynam- (from Greek dynamis: power, force)
• -ics (study of)