Second law of thermodynamics
The second law of thermodynamics may be expressed in many specific ways, the most prominent classical statements being the statement by Rudolf Clausius (1854), the statement by Lord Kelvin (1851), and the statement in axiomatic thermodynamics by Constantin Carathéodory (1909). These statements cast the law in general physical terms citing the impossibility of certain processes. The Clausius and the Kelvin statements have been shown to be equivalent.
First law of thermodynamics
The first law for a closed homogeneous system may be stated in terms that include concepts that are established in the second law. The internal energy may then be expressed as a function of the system's defining state variables , entropy, and , volume: . In these terms, , the system's temperature, and , its pressure, are partial derivatives of with respect to and . These variables are important throughout thermodynamics, though not necessary for the statement of the first law. Rigorously, they are defined only when the system is in its own state of internal thermodynamic equilibrium. For some purposes, the concepts provide good approximations for scenarios sufficiently near to the system's internal thermodynamic equilibrium.