Practice question · Multiple choice
Why can a violently irreversible expansion not be drawn as a curve on a - diagram?
Hints
- A point on the diagram requires the state variables to have definite values.
- During a violent expansion the pressure varies wildly from place to place inside the gas.
Show the answer
C. The system has no single well-defined pressure during the process
Why
Plotting a point requires uniform, well-defined state variables, that is, equilibrium. A violent process has pressure varying across the gas, so there is no single to plot. Only the endpoints are defined, which is why such paths are drawn dashed.
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