Closed Systems
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- In physics, a system is defined as:
An object or group of objects
- Defining a system in physics is a way of narrowing the parameters to focus only on what is relevant to the situation being observed
- When a system is in equilibrium, nothing changes and so nothing happens
- When there is a change in a system, energy is transferred
- An apple sitting on a table can be defined as a system
- If nothing changes, the apple will just sit there
- If the table is removed, the apple will fall
- As the apple falls, energy is transferred
A change in a system causes a transfer of energy from the apple's gravitational potential store to its kinetic store
- Energy is measured in units of joules (J)
- A closed system is defined as:
A system where there is no net change to the total energy in that system
- As a result, the total amount of energy within that system must remain constant
- This is due to the conservation of energy