Question

(a) What happens if you remove the lid of a bottle containing chlorine gas? (b) Does the reverse process ever happen? Why or why not? (c) Can you think of two other examples of irreversibility?

Short answer

1. The chlorine gas will create a mixture of air-chlorine gas inside the room.
2. No, the reverse process can never happen.
3. Two examples can be if you break a plastic scale, it cannot be restored to its original shape, and if you open the lid of a perfume bottle, it cannot be reversed.

Step-by-step solution

Concepts

Diffusion is a property of gas.

The incident takes place in a way by which the entropy of the system increases.

Explanation for part (a) 

After removing the lid of a bottle containing chlorine gas, the gas comes out and forms a mixture of air-chlorine gas inside the room.

Explanation for part (b)

The reverse process can never happen because, according to the second law of thermodynamics, the universe's entropy increases when an incident happens. However, in the reverse process, the entropy should decrease, but that cannot happen. Hence, the reverse process is not possible.

Explanation for part (c)

Two other examples of this can be if you break a plastic scale, it cannot be restored to its original shape, and if you open the lid of a perfume bottle, it cannot be reversed.