Open System

[nelms6678]

An open system can exchange both matter and energy with the surrounding - what does it mean by matter is exchanged? Does anyone have an example?

[Curtis Tam 1J]

Open system is where you can for example actively take reactant or product out of a system. For example, i think a car gas tank can be an open system. You burn the gasoline and you can manually restore the gasoline.

[Julia Campbell 2F]

An open system is also like a cup of coffee for example. You can exchange matter into or out of the system, like adding sugar to the coffee.

[Jaewoo Jo 2L]

The human body is also a good example of a open system because heat is transferred between surroundings (heat regulated by sweating or shivering) to keep equilibrium, and we eat food (put matter into the system) to gain energy.

[Mitch Mologne 1A]

A good way to remember is that an open system is 'open to the surrounding' meaning the system is able to lose some of its particles, or gain some from the surroundings.

[Scott Chin_1E]

If this helps for comparison, a closed system would be like a sealed container, where heat can transfer in and out of the system but matter cannot (because the container is sealed).