The discussion centers on the disagreement regarding entropy determination in irreversible adiabatic processes. It is established that irreversible adiabatic expansions increase the total entropy of an isolated system, aligning with the Clausius inequality. The confusion arises from the assignment stating that the change in entropy (ΔS) can be negative, which contradicts the principle that the total entropy of the universe must increase during such processes. The participants emphasize that while a system's entropy may decrease, the environment's entropy increases significantly, ensuring the overall entropy change remains positive.
PREREQUISITESStudents of thermodynamics, physicists, and engineers interested in understanding entropy changes in irreversible processes.
That's what I've thought. It can be proved by determining entropy through a reversible cycle. However, in class, it was mentioned on an assignment that the delta S is negative and not spontaneous. Which again, does not make senseLet'sthink said:Total entropy of an isolated system or of Universe increases when the isolated system or universe undergoes irreversible adiabatic process.