Irreversible Definition and 133 Threads

Entropy reduction or quantum phenomena can occur microscopically, but entropy reduction is absolutely impossible by chance, and if a macroscopic object's wave function collapses due to measurement, does that mean that the macroscopic object will never be able to cause quantum phenomena? Even in...

I came across the following statement from the book Physics for Engineering and Science (Schaum's Outline Series). I cannot seem to find a satisfactory answer to the questions. Is the statement in above screenshot talking about entropy change the statement of Second Law of Thermodynamics or is...

As far as I learned, the following statements should be correct (for closed systems, no chemical reactions), irrespective whether the process is reversible or irreversible (since S and V are state variables): dU=TdS−pdV dU=dQ+dW Does this imply, that the statement: dU≤TdS−pdV is wrong? This...

This is a cyclic transformation. Is it safe to say thay it's irreversible because if you reverse it, it means I could extract an amount of heat from a cold reservoir and move it into a hotter reservoir with no other effect?

I think the solution is: $$dU=\delta W_{prop}$$ $$dU=TdS-PdV$$ $$dV=0$$ then, $$TdS=\delta W_{prop}$$ and so $$dS=dU/T$$ and by the way, it correct to say that, if the transformation between the initial and the final state would happen in a reversible way then the heat transfer could be...

Hi, reading the interesting Reversible vs Irreversible Gas Compression and Expansion Work insight by @Chestermiller I would like to ask for clarification on some points. In the second bullet at the beginning my understanding is as follows: consider an ideal gas contained in a cylinder...

i have tried to understand Feynman's words i think i finally understands what he means by "we must add a little extra to get it to run" he refers to the "inversion" of the process, that's when we need to add extra work (lifting up a little mass) please correct me if I am wrong, this is something...

Very early in the development of thermodynamics, it was realized that the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics is not a law fundamental to the fabric of our cosmos, but only becomes true in the limit of the number of particles. It was none other than Boltzmann himself who realized and articulated this...

I have been able to get everything except entropy. I know it's not zero. I know I have to find a reversible path to calculate it, but keep coming up with strange values so I don't think I'm doing it correctly. can I do CpdT/T + CvdT/T = ds? I am having trouble calculating my P2 (I know my final...

When trying to describe why the entropy goes up for a irreversible process, such as gas expanding into a vacuum, it seems fairly easy at a high level. the valve between the two chambers opens, the free expansion occurs, the pressure drops proportional to the volume change and the temp remains...

Consider a reversible ideal gas cycle consisting of: 1. An isochoric heat addition, 2. An isothermal expansion to the initial pressure, and 3. An isobaric compression to the initial volume. What, if any, is the difference in net work done by the gas in the cycle if the isochoric heat addition...

I am not able to follow the derivation of work done in a reversible and irreversible process as I don't get why the work done should be different in the two processes. a reversible process is said to be a process that occurs infinitesimally slowly and an irreversible process goes from initial to...

Hi all. I am referencing the example given in Halliday and Resnick, Chapter 20, Section 1, Subsection "Change in Entropy". The above picture is graph of the free expansion of a gas into a volume that is double its original volume. I n a free expansion there is no heat transfer, the pressure...

I recently came across this concerning a T-S diagram: https://learnthermo.com/T1-tutorial/ch07/lesson-C/pg04.php The author states that the area under the curve represents the heat transferred reversibly. The author didn't state what actual process the curve represents, but I couldn't think of...

According to a trusted source (a textbook, if you must know), the actual Gibbs free energy of an otherwise reversible reaction, becomes lower than expected if the local circumstances makes the reaction effectively irreversible. The circumstances are that neither enough energy, nor a reaction...

My teacher was teaching me that how work done in isothermal reversible expansion is greater than irreversible expansion and also work done in isothermal irreversible compression is greater than that for reversible compression. He then said if someone tries to go from 1st state to the 2nd step (...

I read an example where if I go from initial to final state extremely fast (gas inside a piston cylinder assembly) , the gas inside it will be very unhappy, its not going to stay in equilibrium, parts of the system are going to be at different pressure and parts of it at something other...

In Agricultural Process Engineering(Third Edition) by S.M. Henderson and R.L. Perry, Rheology is described as "... the science that considers stress-strain relations where flow proceeds irreversibly with time. Creep in metals and concrete and the strength properties of fruits and vegetables are...

Hi, An irreversible gas expansion is often described in textbooks with a compressed gas in a cylinder pushing up a weight (with mass m) via a hypothetical friction-less and weightless piston. It is said the work done by the gas is equal to -mg × h and from this you can derive the work for a...

Attempt at A Solution Problem 1 Reversible Process - A cylinder of ideal gas at pressure P is in mechanical equilibrium with a piston of area A driven by a spring of force F = PA and thermal equilibrium with a reservoir of temperature T. The piston is moved a small distance dx toward the...

I started reading "Feyman Lectures on physics" and stuck on his explanation about reversible and irreversible machines. I've tried to read other answers to this question, but I couldn't get the point. Here is the first thing: "If, when we have lifted and lowered a lot of weights and restored...

Hi all, this question is related to a similar one I posted a couple of weeks back. Please keep in mind that the level here is high school. I'm looking for a way of describing the concepts in the title that is not overly technical. I keep circling back to these concepts because it seems to me...

Let's say I have a liter of gas at pressure of 4 atm and T=900K. I use it to move perfect massless frictionless and insulative piston to compress a liter of 1 atm, T=300K gas. When the pressure on both sides is equal and the piston stops moving, will the temperature on both sides of the piston...

Hi, consider an adiabatic irreversible process carrying a thermodynamic system from initial state A to final state B: this process is accompanied by a positive change in system entropy (call it ##S_g##). Then consider a reversible process between the same initial and final system state. Such...

For the reversible expansion of an ideal gas the heat flowing out of the surroundings and into the system is equal to the work done by the system. Since both system and surroundings have the same constant temperature the entropy increase of the system is equal to the entropy decrease of the...

Both the heat equation and the diffusion equation describe processes which are irreversible, because the equations have an odd time derivative. But how can these equations describe the real world when we know that all processes in nature are reversible, information is always conserved? But these...

##dU = dw + dq ## vs ##dU = dw + dq + µdN## Which equation do we apply to a closed system involving chemical reaction? According to textbooks, the first equation holds for any closed system in the absence of fields and kinetic energy. However, later chapters use the second equation for...

Sometimes I go back and think about this stuff, and I always find something I don't understand very well. Consider an irreversible isothermal expansion of an ideal gas from state ##A## to state ##B## and suppose I know the amount of heat given to the system to perform the expansion - I'll...

Hello, I am encountering some confusion understanding the difference in working with reversible and irreversible processes in thermodynamics. Let's say I have a process where an ideal gas at a certain starting temperature ##T_i## expands from volume ##V_i## to ##V_f##. The temperature of the...

Homework Statement The change in entropy is zero for: A. reversible adiabatic processes B. reversible isothermal processes C. reversible processes during which no work is done D. reversible isobaric processes E. all adiabatic processes Homework Equations ## dS = \frac{dQ}{T} ## The Attempt...

I've written a short text adapted from a previous post by Count Iblis. I'll append it below. It shows that irreversible PV-work is always smaller than reversible, which fits very nicely with W = Pext ΔV. I'd be interested if there's a way to show that W is exactly equal to Pext ΔV for all...

Homework Statement Can you please show how to solve this question (I am not asking it for homework. I am asking because it would help me understand better). Determine the entropy change in sys, surr, uni, when a sample of helium has of mass M grams at 298K and 1 bar doubles its volume in...

The book says that all quantities in eq. 14.17 are state- functions. How do we know that? Earlier I read that both W and Q are not state functions. Now, since S is state-function, it means that tem. is not a state- function, isn't it? Does it mean that for a reversible process, both W and Q are...

Does this mean that any process in which energy goes away\comes into from the system to the surrounding as heat is irreversible and in any irreversible process, energy must go away \come into from the system to the surrounding through heat?

Hi all, I still have "a many times discussed" problem to understand Feymann's issue about irreversible/reversible machines example. Here is the part from the original text. Here is my questions: 1. Here Feymann talks about the situation when you are not applying any force to rise or lower...

Hello. I read the textbook of the thermodynamic and it said the definition of the reversible process as "thermodynamic process which is slow enough so the system state is always infinitesimally close to the thermodynamic equilibrium (quasi-static) during the process. Such a process can always...

Hello. The entropy S is a state variable or state function as the integral of dS = dQ/T is a path-independent, provided that the path is reversible process path. However, such a path-independency of the integral breaks down when the path includes irreversible process. So, I guess we can only...

Hello! I have this GRE question: In process 1, a monoatomic ideal gas is heated from temperature T to temperature 2T reversibly and at constant temperature. In process 2, a monoatomic ideal gas freely expands from V to 2V. Which is the correct relationship between the change in entropy ##\Delta...

Why does there tend to be disagreement on an irreversible adiabat entropy determination? Doesn't an irreversible adiabatic expansion increase the entropy of a system by the Clausius inequality?

Homework Statement Im working on the following problem and could need some help in answering them: Work is being produced from a cycle. In order to produce this work, energy is being taking from a high temperature sources at a ratio of 1000 kJ/kg and the extra energy is being deliver to a...

What is the change in entropy of thermodynamic environment if it changes its temperature during the process and the process is not reversible? I'm slightly confused because, on the one side, in that case ##\Delta S_{gas} \neq -\Delta S_{surroundings}##, since ##\Delta S_{universe} >0## but on...

Given a sample of nitrogen gas (assume ideal gas conditions), the following conditions were observed inside the container. n = 0.75 moles at 253 K, and pressure = 0.5 atm. Then, an ISOTHERMAL IRREVERSIBLE COMPRESSION on the system forced by a constant Pexternal = 10 atm reduced the initial...

Homework Statement Hi ! I'm stuck with these two questions of my assignment of thermodynamics - Give two exemples of irreversible process (initial state, process, final state) - For each of them, explain why they are irreversible on the microscopic scale. Homework Equations We are not asked...

I have a small confusion that can an irreversible engine have greater efficiency than reversible engine if both have different source and sink temperatures?I know that under same conditions reversible engines are more efficient but what can be concluded under different conditions like both...

I have a gas transitioning adiabatically between A (P1, V1) and B (P2, V2) where P1>P2 and V2>V1. The question is to determine the net work done on the gas if the gas is first expanded reversibly from A to B (w = dE = Cv(T2-T1)), and then compressed irreversibly from B to A (w = -Pext(V1-V2)) at...

Homework Statement A well insulated container consists of two equal volumes separated by a partition - one half an ideal gas while the other is a vacuum. The partition is removed, and the gas expands. What is the entropy change per mole? Homework Equations dS = dQrev/T S/R = Cp/R dT/T -...

Hello, "Reversible processes are at equilibrium : Driving force is only infinitesimally greater than the opposing force Process occurs in a series of infinitesimal steps, and at each step the system in at equilibrium with the surroundings It would take an infinite amount of time to carry out...

Hello, Inside an ideal battery, the chemical reaction is reversible (at equilibrium), thus the oxydation-reduction reaction Zn + Cu2+ = Zn2+ + Cu is happening in both ways at the same rate right? Now, for a real battery, there's resistivity inside it due to many factors, thus the chemical...

if the time taken by a system to execute a process through a finite gradient is infinitely large, then the process is reversible or irreversible?

In the proof of Clausius inequality ##\oint\frac{\delta Q}{T}<0## for an irreversible cycle, I always find the fact that the thermal efficiency of an irreversible machine is **stricly less** than the thermal efficiency of a reversible machine, both operating between temperatures ##T_H## and...