Processes and Cycles

Processes and Cycles

When a system is taken from one equilibrium state to another, the change is known as process. The series of intermediate states through which a system passes during a process is called the path of the process. If all these intermediate states are equilibrium states, the process is known as quasi equilibrium or quasi-static process.

Consider a certain quantity of gas taken in a frictionless piston cylinder arrangement as shown in Fig 1.5. The system is in thermodynamic equilibrium so that there is no unbalanced force acting on piston.

Fig.1.5 Illustration for thermodynamic equilibrium

The moment the weight is removed from the piston, mechanical equilibrium does not exist and as a result the piston is moved upward until mechanical equilibrium is restored again. Therefore the actual process occurs only when equilibrium does not exist.

As shown in Fig.1.5.a, if the entire weight on the piston is removed at once, the deviation from the equilibrium is high and the expansion is rapid. For such a process the intermediate states are not equilibrium states and hence the process would be non-quasi-equilibrium.

If the weight is assumed to be made of a large number of small pieces as shown in Fig.1.5.b and taken off one by one, the deviation from equilibrium is less. The process could be considered quasi-equilibrium.

A thermodynamic system is said to undergo a cycle, if it is taken through a number of processes such that, the final state of the last process is identical with the initial state of the first process in all respects. For cycles net change in any property is zero.