Practice question · True or false
A freely expanded gas can never be returned to its original volume.
Hints
- Can you physically push the gas back?
- Yes, but doing so costs work and heats the surroundings.
Show the answer
False
Why
False, you can certainly recompress it. Irreversibility means the surroundings cannot also be restored: the recompression costs work and dumps heat, so the universe keeps a permanent record even though the system does not.
Practise Reversibility and Irreversibility
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More questions on Reversibility and Irreversibility
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