Today, at the end of my thermodynamics class, we took a video quiz on the below video. We are beginning our study on the concept of entropy and the reversibility and irreversibility of thermodynamic processes. There were two questions on the quiz: 1.) is this process reversible? 2.) explain, using terminology from your fluid mechanics course, the behavior of the fluid and why that supports your answer to question 1. This process is irreversible. There are several factors that combine to make this process irreversible. First, the shear force is introducing friction to the fluid. There is also a factor of irreversibility introduced when the fluid begins mixing. This experiment is designed to minimize the factors that cause irreversibility and appear to be reversible. The laminar flow reduces the mixing factor (turbulent flow would mix the fluids more vigorously). One piece of evidence that proves the experiment to be irreversible is the slight change in geometry of the colored drops of fluid when the container was returned to its initial state.
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