Article révisé par les pairs
| Résumé : | The extension of thermodynamic methods to irreversible processes which has been performed with a high degree of success by several authors, is based on the validity of the fondamental Gibbs formula for the total differential of entropy. This formula permits a straightforward calculation of the entropy flux and also of the entropy creation due to irreversible phenomena. The statistical interpretation of this formula for equilibrium processes has been given by Gibbs himself in his classical paper on statistical mechanics. By an application of the statistical theory of irreversible processes in gases, due mainly to Enskog and Chapman, the author shows in the present paper, that the fundamental Gibbs formula remains valid for a large class of irreversible processes. This class includes the transport phenomena for which the statistical distribution functions are of the form fγ = fγ(0), (1 + φγ(0) with fγ(0) the equilibrium distribution function and fγ(0) φγ(1) the second approximation function calculated by the Chapman-Enskog method. This class includes also chemical reactions slow enough as not to disturb to an appreciable extent the equilibrium form of the distribution functions of each constituent. © 1949. |
