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Entropy production is due to things such as friction, heat transfer across a finite temperature difference and mixing. In distinction from "exergy destruction", "exergy loss" is the transfer of exergy across the boundaries of a system, such as with mass or heat loss, where the exergy flow or transfer is potentially recoverable.
The second law of thermodynamics states, in essence, that the entropy of a system only increases. Over time, thermodynamic systems tend to gain entropy and lose energy (in approaching equilibrium): thus, the entropy is "somehow" related to how much exergy or potential for useful work a system has. The Gouy-Stodola theorem provides a concrete link.
Energy supplied at a higher temperature (i.e. with low entropy) tends to be more useful than the same amount of energy available at a lower temperature. Mixing a hot parcel of a fluid with a cold one produces a parcel of intermediate temperature, in which the overall increase in entropy represents a "loss" that can never be replaced.
According to the first law of thermodynamics, which deals with the conservation of energy, the loss of heat will result in a decrease in the internal energy of the thermodynamic system. Thermodynamic entropy provides a comparative measure of the amount of decrease in internal energy and the corresponding increase in internal energy of the ...
Research concerning the relationship between the thermodynamic quantity entropy and both the origin and evolution of life began around the turn of the 20th century. In 1910 American historian Henry Adams printed and distributed to university libraries and history professors the small volume A Letter to American Teachers of History proposing a theory of history based on the second law of ...
My friend Justin lost his senses of smell and taste last Thursday. "I was drinking coffee, maybe my third cup, and it stopped tasting like anything," he told me. "Then I started to feel a bit achy ...
Figure 1. A thermodynamic model system. Differences in pressure, density, and temperature of a thermodynamic system tend to equalize over time. For example, in a room containing a glass of melting ice, the difference in temperature between the warm room and the cold glass of ice and water is equalized by energy flowing as heat from the room to the cooler ice and water mixture.
If you'd instead put your $10,000 into an S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) index fund, you would've had just $11,900 at the end of the year. An equal investment in an S&P 500 index fund would be worth ...