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[a] While processes in isolated systems are never reversible, [3] cyclical processes can be reversible or irreversible. [4] Reversible processes are hypothetical or idealized but central to the second law of thermodynamics. [3] Melting or freezing of ice in water is an example of a realistic process that is nearly reversible.
The idea that processes that can occur naturally in the environment and act to locally decrease entropy must be identified has been applied in examinations of phosphate's role in the origin of life, where the relevant setting for abiogenesis is an early Earth lake environment. One such process is the ability of phosphate to concentrate ...
A and B can react to form C and D or, in the reverse reaction, C and D can react to form A and B. This is distinct from a reversible process in thermodynamics. Weak acids and bases undergo reversible reactions. For example, carbonic acid: H 2 CO 3 (l) + H 2 O (l) ⇌ HCO 3 − (aq) + H 3 O + (aq).
If the process of converting one type of energy into another takes place inside a thermodynamic system, for example, in chemical reactions, in electric or pneumatic motors, when one solid body rubs against another, then the processes of energy release or absorption will occur, and the thermodynamic system will always tend to a non-equilibrium ...
Thus, for example, if Q was 50 units, T 1 was initially 100 degrees, and T 2 was 1 degree, then the entropy change for this process would be 49.5. Hence, entropy increased for this process, the process took a certain amount of "time", and one can correlate entropy increase with the passage of time.
Biological thermodynamics (Thermodynamics of biological systems) is a science that explains the nature and general laws of thermodynamic processes occurring in living organisms as nonequilibrium thermodynamic systems that convert the energy of the Sun and food into other types of energy. The nonequilibrium thermodynamic state of living ...
Reversible process (thermodynamics), a process or cycle such that the net change at each stage in the combined entropy of the system and its surroundings is zero; Reversible reaction, a chemical reaction for which the position of the chemical equilibrium is very sensitive to the imposed physical conditions; so the reaction can be made to run ...
An example of a cycle of idealized thermodynamic processes which make up the Stirling cycle. A quasi-static thermodynamic process can be visualized by graphically plotting the path of idealized changes to the system's state variables. In the example, a cycle consisting of four quasi-static processes is shown.