The IIT coaching module hammers that in the *system's perspective*, heat absorbed (q) and work done *on* the system are positive. The single mistake is mixing up the sign for work—thinking work done *by* the system is positive. It flips every answer. I know this because my father, fixing our old scooter, always mutters about compression being work *on* the fuel-air mixture, and I see the equation come alive. But in this humid room, saving for the damp patch, I often think the real 'system' is this house, losing heat constantly, and no defined boundary in the module accounts for that slow, unpaid work.
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