Question

Difference between work done and heat dissipated

Answer 1

In thermodynamics, work performed by a system is the energy transferred by the system to its surroundings, that is fully accounted for solely by macroscopic forces exerted on the system by factors external to it, that is to say, factors in its surroundings. Thermodynamic work is a version of the concept of work in physics.

The external factors may be electromagnetic, gravitational,or pressure/volume or other simply mechanical constraints. Thermodynamic work is defined to be measurable solely from knowledge of such external macroscopic forces. These forces are associated with macroscopic state variables of the system that always occur in conjugate pairs, for example pressure and volume or magnetic flux density and magnetization. In the SIsystem of measurement, work is measured in joules (symbol: J). The rate at which work is performed is power.