Practice question · Multiple choice
Reversibility tests whether the surroundings as well as the system can be restored without trace. What follows from this total accounting when evaluating an irreversible change?
Hints
- Can a freely expanded gas ever be compressed back to its starting volume?
- What must happen to the environment if work is done to re-establish the initial state?
Show the answer
D. Restoring the system alone necessarily leaves an indelible imprint elsewhere
Why
Confusing system recovery with total recovery is common: any state can be revisited, but unravelling dissipation always demands external work that leaves heat in the surroundings. Absolute irreversibility does not mean a system is trapped forever.
Practise Reversibility and Irreversibility
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