![]() More precisely, an irreversible process is one that depends on path. ![]() Although irreversibility is seen in day-to-day life-a broken glass does not resume its original state, for instance-complete irreversibility is a statistical statement that cannot be seen during the lifetime of the universe. Many processes occur spontaneously in one direction only-that is, they are irreversible, under a given set of conditions. The second law of thermodynamics deals with the direction taken by spontaneous processes. Some of them refreeze in the winter, but the second law of thermodynamics predicts that it would be extremely unlikely for the water molecules contained in these particular floes to reform the distinctive alligator-like shape they formed when the picture was taken in the summer of 2009. ![]() Figure 15.14 These ice floes melt during the Arctic summer.
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