A detailed analysis of the adiabatic-piston problem reveals, for a finely-tuned choice of the spatial dimensions of the system, peculiar dynamical features that challenge the statement that an isolated system necessarily reaches a time-independent equilibrium state. In particular, the piston behaves like a perpetuum mobile, i.e., it never comes to a stop but keeps wandering, undergoing sizeable oscillations around the position corresponding to maximum entropy; this has remarkable implications on the entropy changes of a mesoscopic isolated system and on the limits of validity of the second law of thermodynamics in the mesoscopic realm.
%0 Journal Article
%1 e6010050
%A Crosignani, Bruno
%A Porto, Paolo
%A Conti, Claudio
%D 2004
%J Entropy
%K imported myown
%N 1
%P 50--56
%T The adiabatic piston: a perpetuum mobile in the mesoscopic realm
%U http://www.mdpi.com/1099-4300/6/1/50/
%V 6
%X A detailed analysis of the adiabatic-piston problem reveals, for a finely-tuned choice of the spatial dimensions of the system, peculiar dynamical features that challenge the statement that an isolated system necessarily reaches a time-independent equilibrium state. In particular, the piston behaves like a perpetuum mobile, i.e., it never comes to a stop but keeps wandering, undergoing sizeable oscillations around the position corresponding to maximum entropy; this has remarkable implications on the entropy changes of a mesoscopic isolated system and on the limits of validity of the second law of thermodynamics in the mesoscopic realm.
@article{e6010050,
abstract = {A detailed analysis of the adiabatic-piston problem reveals, for a finely-tuned choice of the spatial dimensions of the system, peculiar dynamical features that challenge the statement that an isolated system necessarily reaches a time-independent equilibrium state. In particular, the piston behaves like a perpetuum mobile, i.e., it never comes to a stop but keeps wandering, undergoing sizeable oscillations around the position corresponding to maximum entropy; this has remarkable implications on the entropy changes of a mesoscopic isolated system and on the limits of validity of the second law of thermodynamics in the mesoscopic realm.},
added-at = {2016-08-09T20:29:14.000+0200},
author = {Crosignani, Bruno and Porto, Paolo and Conti, Claudio},
biburl = {https://www.bibsonomy.org/bibtex/25a3a8cf412b093fecde11f6f4a47c1b3/nonlinearxwaves},
interhash = {0cd4bc61733a8e3f06aacc4a8b043189},
intrahash = {5a3a8cf412b093fecde11f6f4a47c1b3},
journal = {Entropy},
keywords = {imported myown},
number = 1,
pages = {50--56},
timestamp = {2016-08-09T20:35:45.000+0200},
title = {The adiabatic piston: a perpetuum mobile in the mesoscopic realm},
url = {http://www.mdpi.com/1099-4300/6/1/50/},
volume = 6,
year = 2004
}