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An irreversible
process is a
process that cannot return both the system and the
surroundings to their
original conditions. That is, the system and the
surroundings would not return to their original
conditions if the process was reversed. For example, an
automobile engine does not give back
the fuel it took to drive up a hill as it coasts back down
the hill. There are
many factors that make a process irreversible. Four of the
most common causes of irreversibility
are friction, unrestrained expansion of a fluid, heat
transfer through a finite temperature
difference, and mixing of two different substances. These
factors are present in real,irreversible
processes and prevent these processes from being
reversible.
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