Thermodynamic Cycles - State Functions and Entropy

State Functions and Entropy

If Z is a state function then the balance of Z remains unchanged during a cyclic process:

.

Entropy is a state function and is defined as

so that

,

then it is clear that for any cyclic process,

meaning that the net entropy change over a cycle is 0.

Read more about this topic:  Thermodynamic Cycles

Famous quotes containing the words state, functions and/or entropy:

    No matter how corrupt and unjust a convict may be, he loves fairness more than anything else. If the people placed over him are unfair, from year to year he lapses into an embittered state characterized by an extreme lack of faith.
    Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (1860–1904)

    Those things which now most engage the attention of men, as politics and the daily routine, are, it is true, vital functions of human society, but should be unconsciously performed, like the corresponding functions of the physical body.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)

    Just as the constant increase of entropy is the basic law of the universe, so it is the basic law of life to be ever more highly structured and to struggle against entropy.
    Václav Havel (b. 1936)