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Next: Types of Processes Up: Lecture_05_web Previous: First Law

Types of systems

Question: What kinds of precautions did Joule have to make in his measurements such as those depicted in Figure 5-1


Notice that one must be very careful in defining what processes can and cannot happen and idealizations for the systems on which the experiments are being performed. For this reason, historically, a naming convention has arisen for certain types of systems, Definitions

\begin{center}\vbox{\input{tables/systems}
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Question: What kind of system is a refrigerator?


Question: What is the universe (i.e., all possible systems that must be considered to conserve energy) for a closed refrigerator plugged into an electrical socket




W. Craig Carter 2002-09-12