Practice question · Multiple choice
Why is a reversible process incapable of delivering any power?
Hints
- Reversibility is the limit as every driving difference goes to zero.
- With no gradient there is no rate, so the same work takes infinitely long.
Show the answer
B. It requires infinitesimal gradients, so it takes infinite time
Why
Reversibility is the zero-gradient limit, and zero gradient means zero rate. The work done is actually the maximum possible, it is simply delivered infinitely slowly, so the power is zero.
Practise Reversibility and Irreversibility
The app has 6 more questions on this lesson, and keeps your place in the course. Physics II is free to start.
More questions on Reversibility and Irreversibility
- What distinguishes a reversible process from a merely quasistatic one?
- Sort each process by whether it is reversible in principle or irreversible.
- A freely expanded gas can never be returned to its original volume.
- Reversibility tests whether the surroundings as well as the system can be restored without trace. What…