Thermodynamic Process (With Examples)

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thermodynamic process types

I will explain to you all these four Thermodynamic Process along with examples. 

Trust me this is short and sweet, and you will love this article.

There are four types of thermodynamic processes.

Now, let me tell you something about all these in brief.

1). Isobaric process in thermodynamics

isobaric process example in which boiling of water takes place in open vessel

The above image shows the boiling of water in an open vessel.

You might have already seen this at your home. Right?

Well, the vessel is open during the boiling of water. 

As the vessel is open, the pressure of the system will neither increase nor decrease. It will remain constant.

Such a thermodynamic process in which the pressure remains constant is known as isobaric process. 

2). Isochoric process in thermodynamics

isochoric process example in which boiling of water takes place in closed vessel

Hurray!!

Now I will close this vessel with the help of a lid and then I’ll boil the water. 

Have you done this funny things in your life…(let me know in the comments below)

LOL… who boils water in a closed cooker!!

Well, in this process the vessel/cooker is closed, so its volume is neither increasing nor decreasing.

That means the volume of the vessel remains the same only.

Here the boiling of water takes place in some specified constant volume. 

Thus, the thermodynamic process in which the volume remains constant is called isochoric process.

3). Adiabatic process in thermodynamics

adiabatic process example in which no heat transfer takes place from the cylinder walls of the piston cylinder assembly

Let me explain you adiabatic process with an example. 

You can see the piston cylinder assembly in the above picture.

The walls of the cylinder are insulated, means heat can not transfer through the walls of the cylinder.

The piston moves up and down, that means expansion and compression takes place over here.

But during this process, the heat flow does not occur from the walls (i.e ∆Q = 0). 

This is an example of Adiabatic process in thermodynamics.

Thus the thermodynamic process in which there is no heat transfer involved is called adiabatic process.

4). Isothermal process in thermodynamics

isothermal process example in which boiling of water takes place in open vessel at constant temperature

The thermodynamic process which occurs at constant temperature is known as isothermal process.

You have already observed the boiling of water at your home. But I’ll tell you what exactly happens during this process.

You can see that the water is boiling in the vessel. But, here the reading in the thermometer remains constant. This indicates that the temperature of the water remains constant during the boiling process.

Thus the process in which the temperature remains constant is known as Isothermal process.

These were the four process in thermodynamics. Now there are two more important processes which you need to know. 

These two thermodynamic processes are:

  • Reversible process
  • Irreversible process

Reversible process

What happens when you keep the ice cream open and don’t eat it for some time?

It melts. Right??

Now let me explain to you the reversible process using this example.

thermodynamic process reversible process example in which ice cream is converted to juice and again juice is converted back to ice cream on freezing

This ice cream can be converted to liquid on heating, and again it can be converted to ice cream on freezing.

reversible process example in which ice is converted to water and again water is converted back to ice on freezing

One more example for you.

Water can be converted to ice on freezing. And this ice can be again converted back to water on heating.

Reversible process: 

The thermodynamics process which can be reversed back to its original state is known as reversible process. 

Irreversible process

irreversible process example in which wood is converted into fire and again fire can not be converted to wood

This picture is enough for you to understand the irreversible process.

Look at the example, this wood can be converted to fire, but fire can not be again converted to wood.

irreversible process example in which eggs gets fried on heating but original eggs can not be obtained back on cooling

Egg can be fried on applying heat. But fried egg can not be converted to original egg on cooling it. (Do you eat eggs? Let me know in comments)

I hope you have got the idea of irreversible process. 

Irreversible process: 

The thermodynamic process which can not be reversed back to its original state is known as irreversible process. 

I hope you have clearly understood all the concepts of Thermodynamic process. If you have any queries, feel free to comment below. 

Also let me know, which example you like the most.

Important Guides for you

Ultimate guide on Zeroth law
Ultimate guide on First law
Ultimate guide on Second law
Ultimate guide on Third law

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