CHEMISTRY COMMUNITY

How can an Isolated system be affected if it is isolated and nothing affects it? What kind of changes have to occur that affect it? I'm having a hard time understanding this still.

An isolated system just means that matter and energy cannot be exchanged with the surroundings.
That being said, we can still make changes to the system. For example, in a bomb calorimeter we observe combustion reactions. Though it’s not exchanging heat with the surroundings, it is still exchanging heat within the system. Another example would if you had two different “things” in an isolated container at two different temperatures.

I agree with Nane! Great explanation!

Isolated systems show how we cannot measure the actual internal energy of a system because no energy or matter can be exchanged. For isolated systems there are no changes in internal energy also because no matter or energy are exchanged with the surroundings.

In isolated systems energy and matter are not exchanged so internal energy does not change. So its not affected by those things. For example a closed thermal flask with hot water, the water can leave or come in nor can it heat up or cool down even if you leave it in the sun (provided its good quality ofc ) So the amount or temp of the water does not change so its hasn't been affected in that sense.

Ashley Lopez 3J wrote:How can an Isolated system be affected if it is isolated and nothing affects it? What kind of changes have to occur that affect it? I'm having a hard time understanding this still.

Hi! An isolated system means that nothing can enter or exit the system (in the form of heat or matter), but that does not mean that there cannot be changes within the system. Hope this helps!

Just because a system is isolated, doesn't mean that nothing can change it. Just because energy and heat aren't being exchanged, there are still ways to change any system.

An isolated system means that the system does not transfer energy or matter to the surroundings. A bomb calorimeter is a common example used in the textbooks.

Contrasting from an open system which can exchange matter and energy with the surroundings, and a closed system which can exchange only energy with the surroundings, an isolated system cannot exchange matter or energy with the surroundings.

Yes- there are more limited ways to change an isolated system but it is still possible!

Changes can be made to an isolated system. What makes this system characteristics is that it's matter and energy is not exchanged with its surroundings.

I believe so, as even though an isolated system means can enter or escape , changes can still be made to the system.

I think that with an isolated system changes can not be made from outside that system, but they can still be made within the system itself.

An isolated system means that energy or matter cannot be changed, however, there may be internal aspects of the system that are affected.

Even when a system cannot exchange energy or substances with the surroundings it can still have internal changes. For example a bomb calorimeter can have a reaction within it that changes the two substances or two substances can be in an isolated system at different temperatures and exchange energy with each other.

Nane Onanyan 1G wrote:An isolated system just means that matter and energy cannot be exchanged with the surroundings.
That being said, we can still make changes to the system. For example, in a bomb calorimeter we observe combustion reactions. Though it’s not exchanging heat with the surroundings, it is still exchanging heat within the system. Another example would if you had two different “things” in an isolated container at two different temperatures.

Thank you for this, this was a helpful explanation!!

Nothing from outside the system will affect it if it's isolated.