Reversible Expansion

[Brandon Mo 4K]

Could someone explain the derivation of work of reversible expansion? Also, what is the difference between reversible work and irreversible?

[Jerome Mercado 2J]

A reversible expansion has a pressure that is constantly changing therefore the derivation of volume (the area under the curve) is needed to show a changing pressure. That is why the integral goes from one volume to another and why work for a reversible expansion is

w=-nRTln(V2/V1)

while a irreversible reaction has constant external pressure thus work is just simply:

w = -PdeltaV

[Aria Soeprono 2F]

This might be an obvious question, but will a problem always tell you explicitly if it is reversible or irreversible?

[michelle]

For an irreversible system, work is done under constant pressures and energy is lost as heat. For a reversible system, each energy lost by doing work will come back to the system as heat, and it is more efficient.