Isolated System
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Isolated System
Is it ever possible to create a system that is truly, 100% isolated? I feel like it's impossible to fully shield a region from the outside universe without at least a microscopic amount of energy entering and exiting.
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Re: Isolated System
There are definitely systems that are isolated, for example, a thermos flask, but it is hard to make something truly 100% isolated unless it is a vacuum.
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Re: Isolated System
While you can never create a 100% isolated systems that are 100% efficient (nothing is ever 100% efficient), an example I can think of is the universe. Theoretically speaking, this is the only isolated system that is 100% isolated. Hope this helps!
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Re: Isolated System
I don't think it's possible for a real system to be truly isolated. There is always some energy exchange.
Re: Isolated System
The only way would be in a vacuum, but I don't think it's realistically possible.
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Re: Isolated System
Definitely agree with you now that I think about it, but there may be a few exceptions out there to 100% completely isolated systems.
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Re: Isolated System
I'm not sure it is completely possible but I think the best bet would be in a vacuum.
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Re: Isolated System
Similar to how Dr Lavelle said that a system can never be at absolute zero in his discussion of the third law of thermodynamics, I think its also fair to assume that there can never be an energy change of absolute zero in any system. I think a lot of topics in this section we sort of have to suspend our belief and just treat everything as if it were in an "ideal world."
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Re: Isolated System
The closest one can get to an isolated system would be to use something like a bomb calorimeter. However, even a bomb calorimeter is not perfect adn there would inevitably be an escape of energy.
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Re: Isolated System
I believe for these types of problems, if it states that the system is isolated, then you can approximate there to be only an insignificant amount of energy lost to the surroundings. You can assume that the energy lost is very close to zero.
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