Tagged Questions
0
votes
2answers
92 views
What is evidence for an irreversible change?
Knowing some about thermodynamics and reactions, I do understand how it can be shown that a change is reversible. But irreversible? Why can't it be that a change that was deemed irreversible thousands ...
8
votes
3answers
334 views
Thermodynamically reversed black holes, firewalls, Casimir effect, null energy condition violations
Scott Aaronson asked a very deep question at Hawking radiation and reversibility about what happens if black hole evolution is reversed thermodynamically. Most of the commenters missed his point ...
5
votes
2answers
1k views
Why do reversible processes not increase the entropy of the universe infinitesimally?
The book Commonly Asked Questions in Thermodynamics states:
When we refer to the passage of the system through a sequence of internal equilibrium states without the establishment of equilibrium ...
12
votes
4answers
810 views
How slow is a reversible adiabatic expansion of an ideal gas?
A truly reversible thermodynamic process needs to be infinitesimally displaced from equilibrium at all times and therefore takes infinite time to complete. However, if I execute the process slowly, I ...
1
vote
4answers
337 views
Irreversible expansion and time reversal symmetry
Suppose there are N non-interacting classical particles in a box, so their state can be described by the $\{\mathbf{x}_i(t), \mathbf{p}_i(t) \}$. If the particles are initially at the left of the box, ...
7
votes
4answers
365 views
Intuitively, why is a reversible process one in which the system is always at equilibrium?
A process is reversible if and only if it's always at equilibrium during the process. Why?
I have heard several specific example of this, such as adding weight gradually to a piston to compress the ...
