Abstract
We introduced the second law of thermodynamics to formalize the statement that a system which is left to itself will approach a final stable equilibrium state. A system left completely to itself is isolated, and does not exchange heat, work or mass with its surroundings, therefore Q̇ = Ẇ = 0; for such a system, the second law states that in equilibrium entropy will assume a maximum. While the initial state of a system typically is inhomogeneous, in equilibrium we expect homogeneous temperatures and zero velocity, since internal heat transfer will equilibrate temperature, and internal friction will dissipate all kinetic energy. If gravity can be ignored, pressure and density (in a single phase system) are homogeneous as well, else they might be inhomogeneous, as, e.g., in the barometric formula.
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© 2014 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
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Struchtrup, H. (2014). Thermodynamic Equilibrium. In: Thermodynamics and Energy Conversion. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-43715-5_17
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-43715-5_17
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-662-43714-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-662-43715-5
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