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Problem Set 1

1. The three functions that are equal to each other at thermal equilibrium are the empirical temperatures. The empirical temperatures also equal the state functions divided by the appropriate constants. When systems A and B are in thermal equilibrium, their empirical temperature coordinates are equal. 2. For an isothermal atmosphere, the air pressure decreases exponentially with increasing height. The pressure is 10% of sea level pressure at a height where the exponential term is equal to -2.3. The pressure is 1% at a height where the exponential term is equal to -4.6. The density decreases exponentially with height as well. 3. For a van der Waals gas, the work done during isothermal compression from V

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46 views

Problem Set 1

1. The three functions that are equal to each other at thermal equilibrium are the empirical temperatures. The empirical temperatures also equal the state functions divided by the appropriate constants. When systems A and B are in thermal equilibrium, their empirical temperature coordinates are equal. 2. For an isothermal atmosphere, the air pressure decreases exponentially with increasing height. The pressure is 10% of sea level pressure at a height where the exponential term is equal to -2.3. The pressure is 1% at a height where the exponential term is equal to -4.6. The density decreases exponentially with height as well. 3. For a van der Waals gas, the work done during isothermal compression from V

Uploaded by

baseerkhan137
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Temperature, Thermal Equilibrium and Work

Problem Set 1: Temperature, thermal equilibrium and work

1. Empirical temperatures

Consider three systems A, B and C with state functions PA , VA ; PB , VB ; and PC , VC


respectively. When A and C are in thermal equilibrium, they satisfy the equation,

PA VA − PC VC − nbPA = 0 .

When B and C are in thermal equilibrium, their state functions satisfy,


P C VC
PB VB − PC VC + nB = 0,
VB
where n, B and b are constants.
(a) What are the three functions which are equals to one another at thermal equilib-
rium and each of which is equal to the empirical temperature?
(b) What is the relation between coordinates of A and B in thermal equilibrium?
(c) Write down equations of states for the three systems in terms of empirical temper-
atures you just defined.

2. Isothermal Atmosphere

In class we derived an expression for variation of pressure with height above the sea
level, modelling the atmosphere to be isothermal i.e., at same temperature throughout.

a) Put in the values of the constants appearing in that equation and find out at what
height the pressure is 10% of its value at sea level. At what height is it 1%?

b) What is the density of air at this height, compared to the density at sea level.

c) What is the air pressure at the top of mount Everest and at the height 40, 000 feet,
where most of the air planes fly? Why the cabins of air planes have to be pressurized?
The cabins are usually pressurized to only 0.85atm. What is the force per unit area
on the cabin walls pushing outward? Any idea why don’t they pressurize the cabins
to 1atm to make it more comfortable (no popping of ears)?

3. Work on a Van-der Wall’s Gas

The Van-der Wall’s equation of state:


( )
n2 a
P + 2 (V − nb) = nRT,
V

Due date: February 9, 2011, 5 pm 1


Temperature, Thermal Equilibrium and Work

where n is number of moles and a, b and R are constants, is a better approximation


to the behavior of real gasses compared to the ideal gas equation of state.
For a Van-der Wall’s gas, calculate the work done in compressing the gas “isother-
mally” from V1 to V2 , V2 < V1 .

4. A Photon Gas

The equation of state for electromagnetic field in a box (photon gas) is,

1
P = σT 4 , where σ is a constant.
3

Find the work done in taking this box from (V1 , T1 ) state to (V2 , T2 ) state along the
two paths a and b in the figure below.
V

V1
VT 3=constant
a b

V2
a
T1 T2 T

Due date: February 9, 2011, 5 pm 2

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