Re: [Phys-l] PV question

[John Mallinckrodt <ajm@csupomona.edu>]

Bernard Cleyet wrote:

> A PID controller with a heater or cooler of a single reservoir  
> won't do?
>
> John Mallinckrodt wrote:
>
> > (e.g.,  an isobaric or isochoric process), you will need a large  
> > number (technically, an infinite number) of reservoirs at  
> > different temperatures.

That could work to perform a reasonable approximation of a quasi- 
static process on the gas, but it wouldn't constitute even an attempt  
to perform a reversible process because heaters and coolers generate  
entropy by design.

John Mallinckrodt
Cal Poly Pomona