The first law of thermodynamics is an extension of the law of energy conservation. The latter states that energy can be neither created nor destroyed but converts from one form to another. Thermodynamics is the study of heat’s relationship with mechanical work, and it establishes heat as a form of energy that can be neither […]

The year was 1774, and a man named Tom traveled the Atlantic from England to visit his friend Ben in Philly. Tom was 37 years old, and he had already been through a failed business and lost his wife and child during childbirth. He was a troublemaker by some accounts—a free spirit at the very […]

Low pressures are often measured in inches of water column or “WC. Like most units of measure, it has a very simple origin; in a water manometer, 1″ of water column is literally the amount of force it takes to raise the column of water by 1”. While some water manometers (water tubes) are still […]