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An isothermal process is a type of thermodynamic process in which the temperature T of a system remains constant: ΔT = 0. This typically occurs when a system is in contact with an outside thermal reservoir, and a change in the system occurs slowly enough to allow the system to be continuously adjusted to the temperature of the reservoir through heat exchange (see quasi-equilibrium).
For reversible processes, an isentropic transformation is carried out by thermally "insulating" the system from its surroundings. Temperature is the thermodynamic conjugate variable to entropy, thus the conjugate process would be an isothermal process, in which the system is thermally "connected" to a constant-temperature heat bath.
Whether carried out reversible or irreversibly, the net entropy change of the system is zero, as entropy is a state function. During a closed cycle, the system returns to its original thermodynamic state of temperature and pressure. Process quantities (or path quantities), such as heat and work are process dependent.
The entropy change of a system excluding its surroundings can be well-defined as a small portion of heat transferred to the system during reversible process divided by the temperature of the system during this heat transfer: = The reversible process is quasistatic (i.e., it occurs without any dissipation, deviating only infinitesimally from the ...
Since the total change in entropy must always be larger or equal to zero, we obtain the inequality W ≤ − Δ F . {\displaystyle W\leq -\Delta F.} We see that the total amount of work that can be extracted in an isothermal process is limited by the free-energy decrease, and that increasing the free energy in a reversible process requires work ...
The entropy change associated with any condensed system undergoing a reversible isothermal process approaches zero as the temperature at which it is performed approaches 0 K. That is, (,) (,) =. Or equivalently,
where we have first used the definition of entropy in classical thermodynamics (alternatively, in statistical thermodynamics, the relation between entropy change, temperature and absorbed heat can be derived); and then the second law inequality from above. It therefore follows that any net work δw done by the sub-system must obey
In thermodynamics, a temperature–entropy (T–s) diagram is a thermodynamic diagram used to visualize changes to temperature (T ) and specific entropy (s) during a thermodynamic process or cycle as the graph of a curve. It is a useful and common tool, particularly because it helps to visualize the heat transfer during a process.