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Related Concept Videos

Reversible and Irreversible Processes01:14

Reversible and Irreversible Processes

The thermodynamic processes can be classified into reversible and irreversible processes. The processes that can be restored to their initial state are called reversible processes. It is only possible if the process is in quasi-static equilibrium, i.e., it takes place in infinitesimally small steps, and the system remains at equilibrium However, these are ideal processes and do not occur naturally. An ideal system undergoing a reversible process is always in thermodynamic equilibrium within...
Entropy Change in Reversible Processes01:10

Entropy Change in Reversible Processes

In the Carnot engine, which achieves the maximum efficiency between two reservoirs of fixed temperatures, the total change in entropy is zero. The observation can be generalized by considering any reversible cyclic process consisting of many Carnot cycles. Thus, it can be stated that the total entropy change of any ideal reversible cycle is zero.
The statement can be further generalized to prove that entropy is a state function. Take a cyclic process between any two points on a p-V diagram.
The Entropy as a State Function01:14

The Entropy as a State Function

Consider an arbitrary process that moves between two specific states (A and B) in a cyclic manner. This process is reversible and broken down into smaller parts that each follow a Carnot cycle. A Carnot cycle has two isothermal (constant temperature) processes. During these processes, the ratio of the amount of heat transferred to their respective temperature remains constant. The other two processes in the Carnot cycle are also reversible but adiabatic, which means they occur without any heat...
Thermodynamic Processes01:25

Thermodynamic Processes

A thermodynamic process is a path through a sequence of states that takes a system from an initial state to a final state. In a cyclic process, the system returns to its initial state, so the changes in state properties and state functions (ΔT, Δp, ΔV, ΔU, ΔH) over one complete cycle are zero. However, heat and work transfers can still occur during the cycle, and the net heat and net work over the cycle need not be zero.A reversible process occurs when the system is infinitesimally close to...
Entropy01:18

Entropy

The first law of thermodynamics is quantitatively formulated via an equation relating the internal energy of a system, the heat exchanged by it, and the work done on it. A quantitative formulation of the second law of thermodynamics leads to defining a state function, the entropy.
When an ideal gas expands isothermally, the disorder in the gas increases. From the molecular perspective, the gas molecules have more volume to move around in.
Consider an infinitesimal step in the expansion, which...
Entropy02:39

Entropy

Salt particles that have dissolved in water never spontaneously come back together in solution to reform solid particles. Moreover, a gas that has expanded in a vacuum remains dispersed and never spontaneously reassembles. The unidirectional nature of these phenomena is the result of a thermodynamic state function called entropy (S). Entropy is the measure of the extent to which the energy is dispersed throughout a system, or in other words, it is proportional to the degree of disorder of a...

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Updated: May 28, 2026

Experimental Investigation of Secondary Flow Structures Downstream of a Model Type IV Stent Failure in a 180° Curved Artery Test Section
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Experimental Investigation of Secondary Flow Structures Downstream of a Model Type IV Stent Failure in a 180° Curved Artery Test Section

Published on: July 19, 2016

Information symmetries in irreversible processes.

Christopher J Ellison1, John R Mahoney, Ryan G James

  • 1Complexity Sciences Center, Physics Department, University of California at Davis, One Shields Avenue, Davis, California 95616, USA. cellison@cse.ucdavis.edu

Chaos (Woodbury, N.Y.)
|October 7, 2011
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Most stationary stochastic processes exhibit temporal asymmetry, meaning they are irreversible. This finding challenges assumptions about time symmetry in complex systems and has implications for computational resource requirements.

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Unraveling Entropic Rate Acceleration Induced by Solvent Dynamics in Membrane Enzymes
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Area of Science:

  • Information theory
  • Statistical mechanics
  • Dynamical systems

Background:

  • Markov chains are often assumed to be reversible.
  • Previous work focused on simpler Markovian processes.
  • Understanding temporal symmetry in complex processes is crucial.

Purpose of the Study:

  • Investigate dynamical reversibility in stationary stochastic processes.
  • Extend information-theoretic perspectives on reversibility beyond Markov chains.
  • Analyze temporal asymmetries in processes with long-range correlations.

Main Methods:

  • Information-theoretic analysis of stationary stochastic processes.
  • Representation of processes using finite-state hidden Markov models.
  • Construction and analysis of forward-time and reverse-time ε-machines.
  • Development of a bidirectional machine for direct calculation of information properties.

Main Results:

  • Pervasive temporal asymmetries found in stationary stochastic processes.
  • Most stationary processes are demonstrated to be irreversible.
  • ε-machine representations can change size under time reversal, indicating asymmetry.
  • A bidirectional machine was constructed to directly calculate fundamental information properties.

Conclusions:

  • Stationary stochastic processes are generally irreversible, contrary to common assumptions.
  • Temporal asymmetry is a fundamental property influencing computational complexity.
  • The developed ε-machine and bidirectional machine frameworks offer new tools for analyzing stochastic processes.