Study of Entropy change in Irreversible Processes in co-relation with second law of thermodynamics

Abstract

As per definition, calculation of the change in entropy requires information about a reversible path connecting the initial and final equilibrium states. To calculate changes in entropy for real (irreversible) processes, we must remember that entropy (like internal energy) depends only on the state of the system. That is, entropy is a state function. Hence, the change in entropy when a system moves between any two equilibrium states depends only on the initial and final states. We can show that if this were not the case, the second law of thermodynamics would be violated.