Open System (systems Theory)

Open System (systems Theory)

An open system is a system which continuously interacts with its environment. The interaction can take the form of information, energy, or material transfers into or out of the system boundary, depending on the discipline which defines the concept (see below). An open system should be contrasted with the concept of an isolated system which exchanges neither energy, matter,nor information with its environment.

The concept of an "open system" was formalized within a framework that enabled one to interrelate the theory of the organism, thermodynamics, and evolutionary theory. This concept was expanded upon with the advent of information theory and subsequently systems theory. Today the concept has its applications in the natural and social sciences.

Thermodynamics
The classical Carnot heat engine
Branches Classical · Statistical · Chemical
Equilibrium / Non-equilibrium
Laws Zeroth · First · Second · Third
Systems State:
Equation of state
Ideal gas · Real gas
Phase of matter · Equilibrium
Control volume · Instruments

Read more about Open System (systems Theory):  In The Social Sciences

Famous quotes containing the words open and/or system:

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    In nothing was slavery so savage and relentless as in its attempted destruction of the family instincts of the Negro race in America. Individuals, not families; shelters, not homes; herding, not marriages, were the cardinal sins in that system of horrors.
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