open system

noun, Thermodynamics
1.
a region separated from its surroundings by a boundary that admits a transfer of matter or energy across it.
Compare closed system.
Origin
1935-40
Examples from the web for open system
  • Apple favors the pristine orderliness of autocracy to the messy freedom of an open system.
  • Comparison with a largely open system with easy social mobility is misleading.
  • Unlike the closed circulatory system found in vertebrates, insects have an open system lacking arteries and veins.
  • In other words: entropy exists only in the particular energy-potential of a particular element of an open system.
  • It is an open system with variables within in variables, making accurate predictions nearly impossible.
  • As all this happened, proponents of looser regulation extolled the virtues of a more open system.
British Dictionary definitions for open system

open system

noun
1.
(computing) an operating system that is not specific to a particular supplier, but conforms to more widely compatible standards
Contemporary definitions for open system
noun

a changeable and alterable set of doctrines, ideas, or things; a system that is affected by outside influences

open system in Science
open system  
A physical system that interacts with other systems. The physical description of an open system can appear to violate conservation laws; for example, in a good description of the mechanism of energy transfer in a car engine (gears, driveshaft, and so on), energy will appear to be lost from the system over time, despite the law of conservation of energy. This is because the system is open, losing energy (in the form of heat) to surrounding systems (through friction). A system that loses energy in this way also called a dissipative system. Compare closed system.