In this video, we're going to introduce thermodynamics and distinguish between the system and the surroundings. Thermodynamics is the study of energy transfers between different bodies of matter. It is really important in the study of thermodynamics to distinguish between the system and the surroundings. The system is defined as the specific portion of matter that's being studied, and depending on the scenario, the system can change quite drastically.
In some scenarios, the system will be an entire living organism, and in other scenarios, it will be just a single specific reaction. The system is any specific portion of matter that is the main focus of the study. Then, of course, the surroundings are essentially everything else on the outside of the system—part of the surroundings. Now, biological systems are very interesting because they transfer both energy and mass with the surroundings.
Let's take a look at our image below to clear up this idea. In this particular scenario, the biological system is this plant we have here in the middle. Notice that the biological system, this plant, is capable of allowing energy to enter the system but it's also capable of allowing mass to enter the system. You can see that solar energy from the sun is entering the biological system, entering into the plant. But also, components that have mass, such as carbon dioxide gas and water molecules, are also capable of entering the biological system.
On the other end, it's important to note that not only can energy and mass enter the system, but they can also exit the system as well. You can see that energy is capable of entering the system and then also exiting the system in a different form. Mass is also capable of entering the system and also exiting the system in a different form. This biological system is a plant and is capable of performing photosynthesis, and that's really what we're showing you here on this page. We’ll talk a lot more about photosynthesis later in our course.
What you can see here is that solar energy, and mass such as carbon dioxide and water, are capable of entering the biological system, and then what ends up coming out of the biological system is glucose which is a common form of chemical potential energy because all these bonds that are formed in glucose contain chemical potential energy. It's a form of energy that's exiting the system here. Also, oxygen gas is a form of mass that's exiting the system. The main takeaway here is that biological systems are capable of allowing energy and mass to enter the system, but also, energy and mass can also exit. Distinguishing between the system and the surroundings will allow us to get some practice applying these concepts as we move forward in our course. So, I'll see you all in our next video.