Work Degrading and the Reversible to Irreversible Transition in Chemical Reactions

A thermodynamic analysis performed on a simple ideal-gas chemical reaction with the help of the van't HoffEquilibrium Box, among other thermodynamic notions, produces results concurrent with those of a previously published study in that infinite-time irreversible paths composed of a sequence of equilibrium states are possible. The purely thermodynamic methodology emerging from these studies allows the thermodynamic characterization and further graphical representation of irreversible processes and is simpler than that embodied by the Postulate of Local Equilibrium in that no recourse is made in it of kinetic considerations.