Chap Posted February 5, 2012 Share Posted February 5, 2012 If an ideal gas undergoes a reversible adiabatic expansion, then the entropy change would be zero, since reversible heat exchange is zero. What happens if the gas undergoes an irreversible adiabatic expansion? I know, since its irreversible, the entropy should increase, but my undergraduate chemistry course book argues that since entropy is a thermodynamic function, it doesn't depend on the path; so should be equal to the reversible one: zero? Can anyone shed some light on this issue? Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrRocket Posted February 5, 2012 Share Posted February 5, 2012 If an ideal gas undergoes a reversible adiabatic expansion, then the entropy change would be zero, since reversible heat exchange is zero. What happens if the gas undergoes an irreversible adiabatic expansion? I know, since its irreversible, the entropy should increase, but my undergraduate chemistry course book argues that since entropy is a thermodynamic function, it doesn't depend on the path; so should be equal to the reversible one: zero? Can anyone shed some light on this issue? Thanks! While the change in entropy does not depend on the path it most certainly does depend on the end points of the path (independence of path is a statement about paths in state space with the same end points). In an irreversible process energy is being lost somewhere or added to the system from an external source and the end points of the path will not both coincide with those of a reversible process. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chap Posted February 5, 2012 Author Share Posted February 5, 2012 Thanks for clearing it up! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mississippichem Posted February 5, 2012 Share Posted February 5, 2012 If an ideal gas undergoes a reversible adiabatic expansion, then the entropy change would be zero, since reversible heat exchange is zero. What happens if the gas undergoes an irreversible adiabatic expansion? I know, since its irreversible, the entropy should increase, but my undergraduate chemistry course book argues that since entropy is a thermodynamic function, it doesn't depend on the path; so should be equal to the reversible one: zero? Can anyone shed some light on this issue? Thanks! A thermodynamic function CAN depend on path. A thermodynamic state function does not depend on path by definition. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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