MultiHub Forum

I'm a mechanical engineering student currently taking a thermodynamics course, and while I can solve the textbook problems involving steam tables and cycle analysis, I'm struggling to develop an intuitive physical feel for concepts like entropy and enthalpy beyond the mathematical definitions. This is becoming a problem in my design project where I need to propose efficiency improvements to a basic Rankine cycle. For engineers who moved past the abstract equations, what real-world analogies or visualization techniques helped you truly grasp the "why" behind the laws of thermodynamics and apply them creatively to practical systems?