Quote:
| Originally Posted by [b Quote[/b] (Finless @ Nov. 11 2003,10:50)] Quote: | Originally Posted by [b Quote[/b] (Heads Up @ Nov. 11 2003,08:04)]Ok - saying no one else is biting, the second law of thermodynamics dictates that, if you fill one cylinder with O2 and the other with air and leave you manifold open, you will eventually end up with an even nitrox mix in both cylinders. Happy??  | Heads Up,
Almost happy - is it possible to quantify "almost"? (Your almost that is, not my almost).
Rgds
Bryan |
My 'almost'? Didn't use one. The second law of thermodynamics describes the desire in nature towards entropy (not chaos). It begins by telling us that energy can only flow from hot to cold and not vice versa and this, in turn, explains how gas molecules will naturally seek a position of equilibrium. Different gas molecules will 'collide' or oscillate at different speeds and thus will 'generate' different levels of energy in the form of heat. In a large room, if one half was filled with pure O2 and the other was filled with pure N2 then each side of the room would initially have differing temperatures. Given that energy cannot be created or destroyed and given that energy can only 'flow' from hot to cold, the different gasses would seek a common levels (by mixing) and therefore stopping the flow of energy from one side to the other - a natural balance. Therefore the initial scenario of diffused gases has now 'entropied' or irreversibly broken down and the gas is evenly mixed.
Given the size of a gas molecule compared to the diameter of a manifold, the time taken for this to happen would be quite a bit quicker than imagined - certainly not weeks.
BTW, to all scientist's who are wincing at my (probably widely inaccurate) description, I'm a financial services manager with an O level in physics who has a passing interest only in this sort of styff so don't jump on me from too high please
