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:

    All of the valuable qualities ... like helping in the development of others—will not get you to the top at General Motors, were that path open to women.... The characteristics most highly developed in women and perhaps most essential to human beings are the very characteristics that are specifically dysfunctional for success in the world as it is.... They may, however, be the important ones for making the world different.
    Jean Baker Miller (20th century)

    Every political system is an accumulation of habits, customs, prejudices, and principles that have survived a long process of trial and error and of ceaseless response to changing circumstances. If the system works well on the whole, it is a lucky accident—the luckiest, indeed, that can befall a society.
    Edward C. Banfield (b. 1916)