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The first and second laws of thermodynamic may be paraphrased, respectively, as follows: (1) you cannot win. (2) you cannot break even. Explain in what sense these are permissible restatements.

The first and second laws of thermodynamic may be paraphrased, respectively, as follows: (1) you cannot win. (2) you cannot break even. Explain in what sense these are permissible restatements.

Grade:11

1 Answers

Aditi Chauhan
askIITians Faculty 396 Points
8 years ago
The concept of energy conservation is the basis for the law of conservation of energy, which is called the first law of thermodynamics. The energy gained to win is equal to the energy lose by the other. So the energy is just transfer from one to another. Thus the total energy of the universe remains constant. Therefore the statement “you cannot win” is the paraphrased of first law of thermodynamics.
In accordance to second law of thermodynamics, it is impossible to extract energy from a single body and convert the whole of it into work. It signifies that, an engine cannot attain 100% efficiency. The loss is definitely present.
Energy is a conserved quantity, while entropy is a quantity that generally increases. Entropy is often associated with disorder and the second law of thermodynamics is sometimes cast as a statement that the disorder of a closed system always increases. In accordance with second law of thermodynamics, the entropy of the universe tends to a maximum. In a reversible process, the change in entropy is zero or constant, but the total change in entropy of the system will be increase. Thus, it signifies that, the entropy of the system is not a constant quantity. It will definitely increase. Therefore the statement “you cannot even break even” is the paraphrased of second law of thermodynamics

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