A system in a steady state means that the rate of change is Zero! what about the system which is in equilibrium?
As the word itself says steady state means something that does not change in time. Thermodynamic Equilibrium is the steady state for a closed systems and all the reactions are equilibrated with the its reverse process. Therefore, due to the detailed balance principle, is does not matter what is the rate of each reaction, but only the equilibrium constant. In general, also the real reactions are not important, because, at equilibrium we can define arbitrarily a minimum set of reactions that allow us to determine which is the equilibrium state. Given N specie formed by N atoms we need N-n independent reactions to define the equilibrium state.
A non-equilibrium steady state is obtained in open systems, when energy and/or mass are injected continuously. It is the case of an DC electrical gas discharge in low temperature plasma. Usually in non-equilibrium steady state, the transition to equilibrium is manifested by the spatial inhomogeneity. To understand the concept you can consider a vessel full of water with a hole in the bottom. The equilibrium state is the empty vessel, but the if you fill with water on the top, with the same amount of water that is lost from the bottom, the water level remain constant.
Follow this link for your query:
http://www.differencebetween.com/difference-between-equilibrium-and-vs-steady-state/
Equilibrium in a chemical reaction system means the rate of product formation is same as the rate of the product dessociation along the progress of reactions. In this situation, the system has a constant of equilibrium (Keq). Whereas steady state means equilibrium that ocurred on the highest energy of the progress of reactions. It is common happened for transition state of chemical reaction.
As the word itself says steady state means something that does not change in time. Thermodynamic Equilibrium is the steady state for a closed systems and all the reactions are equilibrated with the its reverse process. Therefore, due to the detailed balance principle, is does not matter what is the rate of each reaction, but only the equilibrium constant. In general, also the real reactions are not important, because, at equilibrium we can define arbitrarily a minimum set of reactions that allow us to determine which is the equilibrium state. Given N specie formed by N atoms we need N-n independent reactions to define the equilibrium state.
A non-equilibrium steady state is obtained in open systems, when energy and/or mass are injected continuously. It is the case of an DC electrical gas discharge in low temperature plasma. Usually in non-equilibrium steady state, the transition to equilibrium is manifested by the spatial inhomogeneity. To understand the concept you can consider a vessel full of water with a hole in the bottom. The equilibrium state is the empty vessel, but the if you fill with water on the top, with the same amount of water that is lost from the bottom, the water level remain constant.
From a theoretical perspective, and in the light of recent progress in stochastic dynamics, there is NO difference.
The full answer was already given in 2005:
Emerging of Stochastic Dynamical Equalities and Steady State Thermodynamics from Darwinian Dynamics,
P. Ao, Communications in Theoretical Physics 49 (2008) 1073-1090. http://www.iop.org/EJ/abstract/0253-6102/49/5/01
http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/arxiv/pdf/0806/0806.0186v1.pdf
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