Thermodynamics is the branch of physics that deals with the movement of energy with in matter. It mainly deals with the movement of heat energy (hence the name), but that study has led the field to include more that heat. This is result of the fact that at the molecular level heat is just the energy of molecular motion. As a result Thermodynamics includes the affects of molecular motion.
In simple terms, the Second Law of Thermodynamics states that the entropy of a closed system will always increase, and a local decrease in entropy in an open system always results in a larger increase in external entropy.
An introduction to the CALPHAD method and the field of computational thermodynamics by Dr. Ursula R. Kattner of the National Institutute of Standards and Technology (NIST).
Universal biosignatures for the detection of life. My goal is to identify processes of life that leave measurable effects on an organism's environment, but which are not tied to any particular biochemistry, in order to build a conceptual framework for the search for extraterrestrial life. To this end, I test a pair of phenomena that appear in both terrestrial (biochemical) life and in digital life. Because these two life forms are different and unrelated, any phenomenon measurable in both is suggested to be universal. The Monomer Abundance Distribution Biosignature (MADB) is any measurement of the relative concentrations of related chemical compounds that cannot be explained by abiotic processes. I observe that living systems synthesize specific chemical compounds at rates that maximize their fitness. As a result, life-bearing environmental samples exhibit compounds in abundance ratios that are clearly not the result of abiotic synthesis because those ratios belie the formation kinetics and thermodynamics that would constrain abiotic synthesis. Often, biotic samples contain high concentrations of specific large, complex molecules that are never seen in abiotic synthesis and cannot be explained unless highly specific catalysts (i.e., enzymes) are present, and energy is expended to drive thermodynamically unfavorable reactions. I catalog this effect as it appears in terrestrial biochemical systems, including amino acids and carboxylic acids, and demonstrate the universality of selection's action on the monomeric composition of life forms by studying analogous examples in digital life. I suggest how this phenomenon provides a route to the detection of even unusual or unforeseen biochemistries, and give examples of detection methods using pattern-recognition techniques that may allow us to empower an autonomous system with the general ability to detect life forms. The Layered Trophic Residue Biosignature (LTRB) is any observation of stratification in solute chemistry that indicates metabolic activity by a sequence of diverse communities. When multiple chemical resources are available, natural selection drives adaptive radiation and the formation of specialist phenotypes. Competition ensures that specialists consume resources in decreasing order of energetic potential when resources diffuse through a medium near a boundary. The result is strata of chemicals appearing in order of redox potential, which is best explained by the presence of life.
The Nomograph Applet The nomograph program is a java applet designed to model the vapour-pressure curve using thermodynamics. It's aim is to provide a simple way of estimating the effect that varying the pressure has on the boiling point of a substance as