Ideal gases A (red spheres) and B (blue spheres) occupy two separate bulbs. The contents of both bulbs constitute the initial state of an isolated system. Consider the process that occurs when the stopcock is opened.

(c) How dpes this process illustrate the second law of thermodynamics?

Video transcript

Hey everyone, we're told that two separate bulbs are filled with ideal gasses, a spheres in orange and be spheres in blue. Both bulbs contents represent the starting conditions of an isolated system. Take into account the procedure that takes place when the stop cock is opened. What aspects of the second law of thermodynamics are illustrated by this process. First, let's go ahead and define the second law of thermodynamics, which essentially tells us that the overall entropy of our system and its surroundings always increases in any spontaneous process. So as we've learned, we know that our change in entropy total is equal to the change in entropy of our surroundings plus the change in entropy of our system. And we were told that we have an isolated system which is a system where we do not exchange energy or matter with our surroundings. So this means the change in entropy of our surroundings is equal to zero. Now when the stop cock opens, the gasses will spontaneously mix. And because we have a spontaneous process, the change in entropy total is going to be greater than zero. So let's go ahead and put this information together. So we have the change of entropy total is equal to the change of entropy of our system plus zero. Since the change in entropy of our surroundings is equal to zero due to that isolated system. So this means the change in entropy total is equal to the change in entropy of our system, which must be greater than zero since we have a spontaneous reaction. Now looking at our answer choices let's go ahead and start with a. We have the process illustrates the second law of thermodynamics, in that the total entropy of the system and its surroundings does not decrease. So this statement will be correct. Next, looking at B, we have the process illustrates the second law of thermodynamics, in that the entropy of the system does not decrease. This statement is also correct, and it is similar to our first statement. Next we have C, which tells us that the process illustrates the second law of thermodynamics and that the entropy of the surroundings does not change. So this statement is also correct since we did state that we have an isolated system, so our answer here is going to be E All of the above. Now, I hope this made sense. And let us know if you have any questions.