Quantifying Irreversible Entropy Change in Adiabatic Gas Expansion: A Comprehensive Analysis

28 June 2023, Version 1
This content is a preprint and has not undergone peer review at the time of posting.

Abstract

we calculate the entropy change for irreversible adiabatic expansion for real gas that does not mention in most Physical Chemistry textbook. This often prompts undergrad students, who are customized to study the behavior of real gas and ideal gas in thermodynamic course, to ask about the entropy change in real gases when they are subjected to expand. Change in temperature is also very important in this regard. So how will a student determine the entropy change for irreversible process? This procedure is quite simple according the textbooks. We cannot directly apply the equation ∆S = S2 – S1 = ∫_i^f▒(đQ_rev)⁄T as for irreversible process ∆S may not be necessarily equal to ∫_i^f▒(đQ_irrev)⁄T . Although entropy is a state function, it does not depend on the path how the system changes its course to achieve the final state. First, we have to identify the initial and final states and then find a suitable reversible pathway for the course. The calculations of ideal gases for irreversible pathway are done in textbooks. However, students need to know for the real gases formulas for the entropy change so that one’s expectation matches with the experimental values when done in practical. Here we considered the calculations for irreversible adiabatic expansion (normal and free) and what happens to the temperature of the system when it achieves the final state.

Keywords

Entropy change
Adiabatic process
Undergrad thermodynamics
Temperature
Van der Waals gas
Real gas
Joule’s expansion

Comments

Comments are not moderated before they are posted, but they can be removed by the site moderators if they are found to be in contravention of our Commenting Policy [opens in a new tab] - please read this policy before you post. Comments should be used for scholarly discussion of the content in question. You can find more information about how to use the commenting feature here [opens in a new tab] .
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy [opens in a new tab] and Terms of Service [opens in a new tab] apply.