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Not all the radiation from the outer shell reaches the inner shell. When you take into account the intensity distribution of radiation from the outer shell (Lambertian distribution, i.e. $\propto\cos\theta$) you will see that the amount of radiation for the inner to the outer shell is the same as in the other direction. No violation of the second law.

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So a while ago I did a little project where I grabbed a "standard solar model" from this paper, which gives me some information that's useful for actually making an estimate. (Unsurprisingly the link given to download the data has changed in the last ten years; I haven't sleuthed to see whether the data is still publicly available.) Only about 1.5% of the ...

3

To add to Whelp's Answer. Even though the $$\bar{d}Q=T\,dS$$ does not hold in an irreversible process, it still gives us something general. Consider a thermodynamic system linked to a system of reservoirs and which can only exchange heat and nothing else with the reservoirs. Let's call the thermodynamic system an engine for our convenience. Then the engine ...

3

This relation is not true for general processes. For a closed system, the general relation is $\delta Q \leq TdS$, as is illustrated by the Clausius Theorem (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clausius_theorem). Another way of writing it is $dS=\delta Q/T + dS_{irr}$ where $dS_{irr}$ is the entropy change due to irreversibilitiy in the closed system ...

3

The cold air does flow down, but instead of flowing out of the fridge it is sucked into a channel, and pumped back out at the top of the fridge.

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Ever heard of the cosmic microwave background? The CMB is a relic from when the universe became "opaque" - when, as Wikipedia says, protons and electrons combined to form neutral atoms. These atoms could no longer absorb the thermal radiation, and so the universe became transparent instead of being an opaque fog. So photons decoupled and the CMB was ...

2

Consider a satellite in orbit about the Earth and moving at some velocity $v$. The orbital velocity is related to the distance from the centre of the Earth, $r$, by: $$v = \sqrt{\frac{GM}{r}}$$ If we take energy away from the satellite then it descends into a lower orbit, so $r$ decreases and therefore it's orbital velocity $v$ increases. Likewise if we ...

2

What makes water boil/evaporate is the thermodynamic concept derived from the first and second law of thermodynamics. You can read this article to find out the derivation from entropy to the Clapyeron equation. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clausius%E2%80%93Clapeyron_relation#Derivation_from_state_postulate $$\frac{\mathrm{d} P}{\mathrm{d} T} = \frac ... 1 based on casual observation, believes that coffee will cool faster than ordinary hot tap water Let's revisit the "casual observation" part. Are the initial conditions the same? Water from a kettle will usually be hotter than from a coffee machine. And we tend to do things to coffee that we don't do to water, like add 10% of another liquid (milk) at low ... 1 I have a different idea a bout reversibility. Just imagine that the piston moves at any pace you want because you have a lot or rigid wires perpendicular to the piston motion that stops the piston from moving unless you retract them and let it pass one step further. Retracting the wires do not require any work (assuming the piston do not have horizontal ... 1 For stars (which have huge amount of mass and density), gravity is taken to be responsible for the heat increase. because heat and volume (thus density) thus gravitation of a (massive) star, are related. This is exactly one of the factors that make nuclear fusion (in stars) possible. The two effects thermodynamics (and kinetic energy) and gravity are ... 1 Wikipedia Intensive and extensive properties By contrast, an extensive property is one that is additive for independent, noninteracting subsystems.[1] The property is proportional to the amount of material in the system. For example, both the mass and the volume of a diamond are directly proportional to the amount that is left after cutting it ... 1 In thermodynamic equilibrium, the solidification process can be tracked using the phase diagram of water and salt. One example (from wikipedia) is: It is fairly straightforward as a binary phase diagram. Above 0C, adding NaCl to water results in complete dissolution until somewhere above 26.3 wt.%. At that point, trying to stir more in will result in ... 1 Interesting question. I would have thought that if you were aware of the exact number of energy states and the populations thereof, you could apply boltzmann statistics to each of the levels in order to fit an appropriate temperature to the population in each state. This temperature, if comparable amongst the included levels, would therefore require that the ... 1 Fun, So you are asking about the thermal energy content of the sun? If we assume that all the hydrogen is dissociated. (single atoms) Then each atom has three degrees of freedom and carriers 3/2 kT of energy. So count up the number of atoms at each temperature.... That will work until the atoms ionize. Then there will be equal energy in all the ... 1 There's no violation of the second law here. You have a system that is out of thermal equilibrium. That black bodies absorb and radiate is the driving mechanism that tries to move this system toward thermal equilibrium. By way of analogy, suppose you are from a southern clime and take a trip at this time of year to a northern clime. You, as a southerner, ... 1 The inherent idea is, from that equation$$I = \exp (\frac{eU}{k_B T})$$if you plot (\ln I) versus U, that would be a straight line (of the form y=mx), with a slope$$\alpha = \frac{e}{k_B T} That's all you have to do in the experiment, use least square fitting to find an accurate value of $\alpha$ and then find the Boltzmann constant using the ...

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