First Law of Thermodynamics

Energy cannot be created or destroyed, only transformed (Conservation of Energy).

Core Principles & Analysis

• Established in the 1840s through the work of Julius Robert Mayer, James Joule, and Hermann von Helmholtz.
• Joule's paddle-wheel experiments measured the mechanical equivalent of heat.
• Rules out perpetual motion machines of the first kind.

Specifications & Metrics

• SYMBOL: ΔU=Q-W