Isolated Systems

An isolated system in science refers to a state where nothing enters or leaves the system, so no matter goes in or out of the system’s boundaries. Although this may seem like an unusual concept, it plays an important role in our everyday lives and can be used to help us better understand the world around us. In this article, we’ll take a look at exactly what an isolated system is and some different examples of isolated systems in everyday life.

An isolated system, or closed system, is defined as an object that is not influenced by outside forces other than the ones it creates itself. As you might imagine, this definition raises some questions in the minds of students who are learning about physics and chemistry. For example, what exactly do we mean by outside forces? And how can an object generate its force?

When we say isolated system, what do we mean?

The defining characteristic of an isolated system, i.e., a system in thermodynamics, is that it is separate from its environment and not connected to it by any means (i.e., through interactions or exchanges). 

A common example of such a system would be a sealed box—anything that happens inside the box can only affect what happens inside and vice versa. It follows then that we can’t say anything about what’s going on outside or get information about what’s happening there without opening it up or making direct observations. This idea might seem obvious but many processes aren’t isolated systems because they’re connected to their surroundings in some way. In science, we’d like to avoid these situations as much as possible—but sometimes we don’t have a choice!

Examples of isolated systems

These are systems that are thermodynamically isolated, which means they do not exchange energy with their surroundings. In simpler terms, isolated systems do not gain or lose energy from anything outside of themselves. If a system has no outside influence, it’s always in a state of equilibrium—therefore there’s no change to its energy content. Let’s take a look at some examples: 

You’re trying to find what temperature ice will melt at using some steam and water. These are both enclosed inside of an insulated container so that no heat can be exchanged with anything outside of it.

How to remember isolated systems?

There’s a simple way to remember isolated systems in thermodynamics: STEAM. Starting with single-phase systems and working our way up to multi-phase ones, we get these terms: Single-Phase (SS), Two-Phase (TS), Triple Phase (TP), Multi-Phase (MP). This helps you understand whether there are non-condensable gases in a system, as well as how many phases you’re dealing with. 

Single-phase refers to systems with one substance, so gases that can expand to fill a container are still considered single phase because they don’t mix with other substances to do so.

Exceptions when you don’t have an isolated system

As mentioned above, in most cases an isolated system is not in contact with another system (so nothing flows in or out). But there are exceptions. For example, a thermodynamic system containing both liquid and gas at equilibrium at different temperatures might be considered an isolated system. 

This is because by definition equilibrium means that no work can be done, so you won’t have any net flow. Another exception to the isolated-system rule occurs when something non-thermodynamic comes into contact with your thermodynamic system—the contact may involve chemical reactions rather than heat transfer, for example. In other words, two systems are considered to be isolated if they aren’t in contact with each other and if there’s no energy flow between them.

Conclusion

An isolated system does not exchange energy or matter with its surroundings. A good example of an isolated system in everyday life would be the thermos you use to keep your soup hot on the way home from work. With no contact between the outside and inside of the thermos, the heat inside stays trapped until you open it to eat your dinner. This makes it an excellent example of an isolated system in action.