| Abstract
| - Equilibrium thermodynamics is combined with Jarzynski's irreversible work theorem to quantify the excessentropy produced by irreversible processes. The resulting rectified form of the second law parallels the firstlaw, in the sense that it facilitates the experimental measurement of excess entropy changes resulting fromirreversible work and heat exchanges, just as the first law quantifies energy changes produced by eitherreversible or irreversible work and heat exchanges. The general form of the rectified second law is furtherapplied to a broad class of quasi-static irreverisble (QSI) processes, for which all of the thermodynamicfunctions of both the system and surroundings remain continuously well-defined, thus facilitating excessentropy measurements by integrating exact differential functions along QSI paths. The results are illustratedby calculating the mechanical and thermal excess entropy produced by the irreversible unfolding of an RNAmolecule.
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