Learn all about thermodynamics, the science that explores the relationship between heat and energy in other forms. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

For two centuries, engineers have trusted a simple rule to predict how heat flows through solids, from jet-engine blades to smartphone chips. Now a set of carefully designed experiments has revealed a ...

In classical physics, anything driven hard enough will eventually heat up, lose coherence, and settle into disorder. A new quantum experiment suggests that this rule is not absolute, revealing a ...

Heat flows from hot to cold objects. When a hot and a cold body are in thermal contact, they exchange heat energy until they reach thermal equilibrium, with the hot body cooling down and the cold body ...

Anyone trying to circumvent the physical laws governing heat is going to get burned. A new experiment reveals how a device that robs a closed system of heat to make it more orderly, an action ...

Your lukewarm cup of coffee won’t suddenly heat itself up, no matter how long you put off the trek to the microwave. But the same rule doesn’t necessarily apply to quantum systems. Like chilly air ...

— What is the zeroth law of thermodynamics? — What is the second law of thermodynamics? — What is the third law of thermodynamics? The first law of thermodynamics states that heat is a form of energy, ...

To most physicists, the phrase “theory of everything” refers to a unified theory of nature’s fundamental interactions, the quest for which has kept researchers busy for the best part of a century.