## Reversible vs Irreversible Work

$w=-P\Delta V$
and
$w=-\int_{V_{1}}^{V_{2}}PdV=-nRTln\frac{V_{2}}{V_{1}}$

Arjun Sharma 1D
Posts: 33
Joined: Fri Sep 29, 2017 7:06 am

### Reversible vs Irreversible Work

I remember in one of Dr. Lavelle's lectures he reasoned that reversible processes do more work than irreversible processes because they're pushing against a higher external pressure. For instance, 2 atm pushing against 2 atm for reversible and 2 atm pushing against 1 atm for irreversible. But I was wondering if it's possible to have a higher external pressure for the irreversible situation, like 2 atm inside against an external pressure of 3 atm?

Rachel Formaker 1E
Posts: 86
Joined: Fri Sep 29, 2017 7:04 am
Been upvoted: 2 times

### Re: Reversible vs Irreversible Work

If the external pressure is higher than the internal pressure, there will be compression rather than expansion of the gas, so you're not comparing it to reversible expansion anymore.
However, I would assume that reversible compression would be more work being done on the system than irreversible compression, because reversible processes in general are the maximum amount of work done.