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An irreversible process increases the total entropy of the system and its surroundings. The second law of thermodynamics can be used to determine whether a hypothetical process is reversible or not. Intuitively, a process is reversible if there is no dissipation. For example, Joule expansion is irreversible because initially the system is not ...
For any irreversible process, since entropy is a state function, we can always connect the initial and terminal states with an imaginary reversible process and integrating on that path to calculate the difference in entropy. Now reverse the reversible process and combine it with the said irreversible process.
[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.
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).
An irreversible process degrades the performance of a thermodynamic system, designed to do work or produce cooling, and results in entropy production. The entropy generation during a reversible process is zero. Thus entropy production is a measure of the irreversibility and may be used to compare engineering processes and machines.
For a particular reversible process in general, the work done reversibly on the system, ,, and the heat transferred reversibly to the system, , are not required to occur respectively adiabatically or adynamically, but they must belong to the same particular process defined by its particular reversible path, , through the space of thermodynamic ...
Hydrolysis (/ h aɪ ˈ d r ɒ l ɪ s ɪ s /; from Ancient Greek hydro- 'water' and lysis 'to unbind') is any chemical reaction in which a molecule of water breaks one or more chemical bonds. The term is used broadly for substitution , elimination , and solvation reactions in which water is the nucleophile .
In chemistry, photoisomerization is a form of isomerization induced by photoexcitation. [2] Both reversible and irreversible photoisomerizations are known for photoswitchable compounds. The term "photoisomerization" usually, however, refers to a reversible process.