ENGINEERING PHYSICS 1A

Course Lecturer: Simiyu Justus

Introduction
These lecture notes are for 1rst year Engineering students (Electrical, Civil, Mechanical, Geospacial, and
Environmental & Biosystems) for their first semester Physics course. The notes cover mechanics and properties of
matter. The course is intended to introduce the student to the science behind physical entities that will be covered in
various areas of engineering. Please note that these notes cover only the first half of first semester engineering
physics course. The second half of the course is not covered here. The section of vectors is not also covered here but
the student can get the background on vectors elsewhere.

Course outline

1. LINEAR MOTION
Kinematics: Vector & scalar quantities. Resolution and composition of vectors. The inclined plane.
Displacement. Velocity. Acceleration. Equations of linear motion. Motion under gravity. Projectiles.
Newton’s laws of motion. Linear momentum. Principle of conservation of linear momentum. Elastic and
inelastic collision. Impulse. Static equilibrium. Moments. Couples. Torque. Work. Energy power
2. CIRCULAR AND ROTATIONAL DYNAMICS
Angular displacement. The radian measure. Angular velocity. Period. Frequency. Acceleration. Centripetal
force. Vertical and horizontal circular paths. Rotation of rigid bodies. Equations of motion. Moment of
inertia
3. SIMPLE HARMONIC MOTION
Definition. Relation to circular motion. Velocity. Acceleration. Period. Frequency. K.e. p.e. gravitation.
Kepler’s laws
4. ELASTIC, FRICTIONAL, VISCOUS FORCES, FLUID MECHANICS
Hooke’s law .stress. strain. Young Modulus. Coefficient of friction. Pressure, Pascal principle. Archimedes
principle. Coefficient of viscosity. Stoke’s law. Bernoullis’s principle.
5. WAVES MOTION
Wave phenomenon, general wave equation, sound waves, velocity of sound wave, interference, beats and
beat frequency, Doppler Effect
6. HEAT
Internal energy and temperature, phase changes of pure substance, isothermal and isobaric compressibility
of gases, liquids and solids
7. HEAT TRANSFER
Conduction, convection and radiation. Kinetic theory of gases, perfect gas equation, intermolecular forces,
specific heats and equipartition of energy

Books of Reference
1. Ohanian Physics II Edition, Norton & Co., NY (1989)
2. Vector Analysis, Schaum Series by Murray, R., McGraw Hill, NY (1980)
3. Theoretical Mechanics, Schaum Series by Murray, R., McGraw Hill, NY (1986)
4. College Physics, 3rd Ed, by Miller, Harcourct B. Inc. NY (1972)
5. A-Level Physics 5th Ed. by Nelkon & Parker, Heinmann (K) Ltd (1991)
6. Any book that covers mechanics

©Justus Simiyu 2014 [email protected] Physics Department University of Nairobi

 1 DYNAMICS

Linear Motion (motion in a straight line)

The mathematical concept of vectors is very useful for the description of displacement, velocity and acceleration in
one, two or three dimensions. A body can undergo either one of the following types of motion or a combination of
two or more of these motions namely:

i Translational or rectilinear motion ie motion in a straight line

ii Rotational or circular motion eg a rotating wheel or planets around the sun
iii Vibrational or oscillatory motion eg a pendulum clock, atoms or electrons in a metal or solid.

Displacement (S ) is a physical quantity that specifies the position of an object relative to the initial point (origin)
or it is the distance moved in a given direction.

Velocity ( ) is vector that specifies the rate of change of displacement with time. It is defined by
S
 (1)
t
The average velocity of an object is given by
Change in Displacement

Time Taken
For example, consider the displacement-time graph of, say, an automobile given below:

P2
S2

P1
S1

t1 t2 t

If S 2  S1 is the change occurring in position in time interval t 2  t1 , then the average velocity is

S 2  S1  S
   slope of the straight line P1 P2 . On the other hand, the speed ( ) between t1 and
t 2  t1 t
t 2 is defined by
ActualDis tan ce CurvedDis tan ceP1 P2 S
   
t 2  t1 t t

©Justus Simiyu 2014 [email protected] Physics Department University of Nairobi

ie speed is the rate of change of distance with time ( and in some cases is equal to the magnitude of the velocity).
The instantaneous velocity ie velocity of the object at a given time or point is the time rate of change of
displacement ie
dS
Instantaneous Velocity 
dt
Acceleration (a ) is a vector specifying how fast the velocity of a body changes with time ie

ChangeinVelocity  
a   (3)
Timetaken t t
The instantaneous acceleration is defined by
d
a inst 
dt
Their Units are: Displacement (m), Speed (ms-1), Velocity (ms-1) and Acceleration (ms-2).

Types of rectilinear motion

(i) Motion with uniform velocity
Velocity-time graphs and displacement-time graphs are valuable ways of depicting motion in a straight line. The
figures below shows the displacement- and velocity-time graphs for a body moving with uniform velocity ie
constant speed in a fixed direction. The slope of fig (a) gives the velocity.

v
S

t t
(a) Displacement-time graph (b) Velocity-time graph

For the displacement-time graph, the slope gives the velocity of the object while the area has no physical
significance. In the velocity-time graph, the slope is the acceleration of the object while the area is the displacement
of the object.
(ii) Motion with uniform acceleration (equations of motion)
If the velocity of a uniformly accelerating object increases from a value u to  in time t , then from the definition
of acceleration that
 u
a (4)
t
we have
  u  at (5)
For uniform motion, the displacement covered in time t is defined by
1
S  Average velocity  Time  (u   )t (6)
2
Using equation 5, equation 6 gives
1 2
S  ut  at (7)
2
3

©Justus Simiyu 2014 [email protected] Physics Department University of Nairobi

Eliminating t in equation 7 by substituting for t in 6 gives
  u 2  2aS
2
(8)
Equations 5, 7 and 8 are equations of motion for an object moving in a straight line with uniform acceleration.

Example A body covers a distance of 10m in 4s it rests for 10s and finally covers a distance of 90m in 6s. Calculate
its average speed.

Solution Total distance  10  90  0  100m

Total time  4  10  6  20 s

100m
Average speed   5ms 1
20 s
Example A student runs 800m due north in 110s followed by 400m due south in 90s. Calculate his average speed
and his average velocity for the whole journey.

Totaldis tan ce 800  400 1200m

Solution (i) Average speed     6ms 1
Totaltime 110  90 200s

TotalDisplacement 800  400

(ii) Average velocity    2ms 1
Totaltime 110  90
For velocity, since it is a vector, you have to choose the direction

Example A car moving with a velocity of 54kmhr-1 accelerates uniformly at the rate of 2ms-2. Calculate the distance
traveled from the place where the acceleration began to that where the velocity reaches 72kmhr-1 and the time taken
to cover this distance.

Solution Given 54kmhr 1  15ms 1 (u ) 72kmhr 1  20ms 1 ( ) a  2ms 2 ,

then
2
(i)   u 2  2aS implying 20 2  15 2  2(2) S S  43.75m

(ii)   u  at implying 20  15  2t t  2.5s

(iii) Motion under gravity (free falling bodies)
A body released near the earth’s surface will accelerate towards the earth under the influence of gravity. If air
resistance is neglected, then the body will be in free fall and the motion will proceed with uniform acceleration of
a  g  9.81ms 2 . The value of this downward acceleration (g ) is the same for all bodies released at the same
location and is independent of the bodies’ speed, mass, size and shape. The equations of motion for freely falling
bodies are similar to those for linear motion with constant acceleration a being replaced by g . For upward motion
(rising body), g is negative since the body is decelerating. Thus

  u  gt
1 2
S  ut  gt (9)
2
 2  u 2  2 gS
4

©Justus Simiyu 2014 [email protected] Physics Department University of Nairobi

Example A ball is thrown vertically upwards with a velocity of 20 ms-1. Neglecting air resistance, calculate
(i) The maximum height reached

(ii) The time taken to return to the ground

Solution Taking upward direction as positive, u  20ms 1 and a   g  10ms 2 then

1
(i) At maximum height,   0ms thus

 2  u 2  2aS  0  20  20  2(10) S
S  20m
(ii) On return to ground, S becomes zero, thus from

1 2
S  ut  at
2
1
0  ut  gt 2  20t  5t 2
2
t  4 sec
PROJECTILE MOTION
Projectile motion is when an object moves both vertically and horizontally on the surface of the Earth at the same
time. The two motions are independent of each other ie the object moves horizontally with constant speed, and at the
same time, it moves vertically in a way a similar object not undergoing horizontal motion would move. If air
resistance is neglected, then a projectile can be considered as a freely falling object and its equations of motion can
be determined from the linear equations of motion together with the initial conditions ie the initial velocity has
components u cos  along the horizontal- and u sin  along the vertical direction. The horizontal and vertical
motions are analyzed as follows
uy u
u x  u cos 

u y  u sin 
y
ux
θ

(i)Vertical motion the vertical component of u is u sin  and the acceleration is –g. When the projectile reaches
the ground at B, the vertical distance h traveled is zero. So from
1 2
h  u yt  gt ….. (1)
2
we have
1 2 u sin 
o  u sin t  gt  t  2 ….. (2)
2 g
which is the total time of flight. Also the maximum height reached can be evaluated as follows; from equation 1 we
have

©Justus Simiyu 2014 [email protected] Physics Department University of Nairobi

 1 2 u 2 sin 2 
Y  u sin t  gt  ….. (3)
2 2g
after substituting half of the value of t from 2.

(ii) Horizontal motion since g acts vertically, it has no component in the horizontal direction. So the projectile
moves in a horizontal direction with a constant velocity u cos  which is the horizontal component of u. so from
 
the relation s  u t we have
2u sin  sin  cos  sin 2
R  u cos    2u 2  u2 … ..(4).
g g g
o
The maximum range is obtained when sin 2  1 or 2  90 .
In this case
u2
R … ..(5).
g
Also at the maximum height Y of the path, the vertical velocity of the projectile is zero. So applying the relation
v y  u y  at in a vertical direction, the time t to reach A is given by
u sin 
0  u sin   gt  t  .(6).
g
This is just half the time to reach B.

Example An object is thrown horizontally with a velocity of 10m/s from the top of a 20m-high building as shown.
Where does the object strike the ground?

10ms-1

20m

Solution: We consider the horizontal and vertical problems separately.

(i) In the vertical case if the downward direction is taken to be positive, then  oy  0ms 1 , g  9.81ms 2 and
1 1
y  20m . Thus we can find the time taken to reach the ground from y  voy  a y t 2  20  0   9.81t 2
2 2
from which t=2.02s.
(ii) In the horizontal case, we have found that the object will be in the air for 2.02s. Therefore given that
 ox   x  10ms 1 and t  2.02 s , then X   x t  10ms 1  2.02s  20.2m .

NEWTON’S LAWS OF MOTION

First Law: A body tends to remain at rest or in uniform motion in a straight line (with constant velocity) unless
acted upon by a resultant force. The tendency of a body to continue in its initial state of motion (a state of rest or a
state of uniform velocity) is called inertia. Accordingly, the first law is often called the law of inertia.

Second Law: If a net force acts on a body, it will cause an acceleration of that body. That acceleration is in the
direction of the net force and it magnitude is proportional to the magnitude of the net force and inversely

©Justus Simiyu 2014 [email protected] Physics Department University of Nairobi

 
 F  
proportional to the mass of the body ie a  so that F  ma . From the definition of a Newton, the law can be
m
written in the form
 
F  kma  ma
 
This (vector) equation is a relation between vector quantities F and a , and is equivalent to the three algebraic
 
Fx  ma x
 
equations Fy  ma y
 
Fz  ma z
Third Law: Action and reaction are always equal and opposite ie when one body exerts a force on another, the
second exerts an equal, oppositely directed force on the first. Examples include when pushing on a car, the car
pushes back against your hand, when a weight is supported by a rope, the rope pulls down on the hand; a book
resting on a table pushes down on the table, and the table in turn pushes up against the book; the earth pulls on the
moon holding it in a nearly circular orbit and the moon pulls on the earth causing tides. The law differs from the first
and second in that, whereas the first and second laws are concerned with the behavior of a single body, the third law
involves two separate bodies. The inherent symmetry of the action-reaction couple precludes identifying one as
action and the other as reaction.

COLLISIONS AND LINEAR MOMENTUM


Linear Momentum is defined as the product of the object’s mass (m) and its velocity v and is a vector.
 
Linear momentum L  mass  velocity  mv

The SI unit of linear momentum is kgms-1 (Newton second-Ns) and its dimension is
M L . From Newton’s
T 
 
second law ( F  ma ) , if no external force acts on an object, then

   v  u  L 
F  ma  m   0  L is a constant. Thus its momentum is
 t  t
conserved. This is the principle of conservation of linear momentum. It is useful in solving problems involving
collisions between bodies.
The product of the force and the time is called the impulse of the force I ie
   
Impulse I  Ft  mv  mu  change in momentum
The SI unit of impulse is the same as that of momentum ie Newton-second or kilogram-meter-per-second.

Collision is any strong interaction between bodies that lasts a relatively short time. Examples include automobile
accidents, neutrons hitting atomic nuclei in a nuclear reactor, balls colliding, the impact of a meteor on the surface of
earth, a close encounter of a spacecraft with the planet Saturn etc. In all collisions, momentum is conserved. The
total energy is also conserved. However, kinetic energy might not be conserved since it might be converted into
other forms of energy like sound, heat or work during plastic deformation. There are two main types of collisions:
elastic and inelastic collisions.

©Justus Simiyu 2014 [email protected] Physics Department University of Nairobi

Elastic collision: both kinetic energy and momentum are conserved.

ma ua ub mb va ma mb vb

(a) before collision (b) after collision

From the figure, we have

   
ma u a  mb u b  ma va  mb vb conservation of linear momentum

1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2
ma u a  mb u b  ma v a  mb vb conservation of kinetic energy.
2 2 2 2
Inelastic collision: momentum is conserved but kinetic energy is not conserved. Thus
   
m a u a  mb u b  m a v a  mb v b
If the colliding bodies stick together, the collision is totally inelastic and hence we have
  
ma u a  mb u b  (ma  mb )V

where V is the common velocity.
Special cases

(i). Elastic collision in a straight line

If the two objects A and B have equal masses m and mass B is stationary ( uB=0) then for elastic collision we have
mu A  mv A  mv B conservation of linear momentum

mA mB
mA mB
A ua B vb
A ua B ub = 0

(a) before collision (b) after collision

1 2 1 2 1 2
and mu A  mv A  mv B conservation of kinetic energy, from which we have
2 2 2
u A  v A  vB
2 2 2
u A  v A  vB
Solving gives u A  v B and v A  0 . Thus the two objects simply exchange velocities ie mass A comes to rest
while mass B moves off with the original velocity of A. this is a situation of maximum energy transfer between two
colliding bodies and is mostly applicable in nuclear reactions where neutrons are stopped by protons.

(ii). Oblique collisions of equal masses

If mass A collides obliquely with mass B which is at rest and both objects are of equal masses m, then the total
momentum of any object will be the sum of the respective momentum components in the vertical and horizontal
directions respectively

©Justus Simiyu 2014 [email protected] Physics Department University of Nairobi

 A θ

mA mB
θ
A ua B
φ
vB = 0

Thus conservation of linear momentum gives mu A  mv A cos   mv B cos  along the x -direction

0  mv A sin   mv B sin  along the  y direction

1 2 1 2 1 2
Conservation of kinetic energy gives mu A  mv A  mv B
2 2 2
(iii). Recoil
In a case where part of a composite body suddenly flies apart eg a bullet fired from a gun, the remaining part (the
gun) must undergo momentum in the opposite direction (recoil) in order to conserve the momentum. If mb and  b
are the mass and velocity of the bullet while mg is the mass of the gun, then the gun will recoil with velocity vg given
by

 mb v b  m g v g
mb v b
or vg   v g is far much less than vb since mb is far much
mg
less than mg .
Example A car traveling at 90kmhr-1 slams into a tree and is stopped in 40ms. If the car has a mass of 800kg,
calculate the average force acting on the car during the collision.

Solution v  90kmhr 1  25ms 1 1

From Ft  mv  mu , we have
0.04 sec F  800kg  25ms 1  F  5  10 5 N

Example A person of mass 50kg who is jumping from a height of 5m will land on the ground with a velocity
v  2 gh  2  10  5  10ms 1 for g  10ms 2 . If he does not flex his knees on landing, he will be
1
brought to rest very quickly, say th second. The force F acting is then given by
10
momentum 50  10
F  5000 N . This is a force of about 10 times the person’s weight and the large force
t 0.1
has a severe effect on the body. Suppose, however, that the person flexes his knees and is brought to rest much more
slowly on landing, say 1 second. Then the force F now acting is 10 times less than before, or 500N. Consequently,
much less damage is done to the person on landing.

©Justus Simiyu 2014 [email protected] Physics Department University of Nairobi

Equilibrium
1st condition for Equilibrium
Much of Physics has to do with objects and systems which are at rest and remain at rest. This portion of physics is
called statics. It is of prime importance since the concepts which it involves permeate most fields of physical
sciences and engineering.
An object is in equilibrium if it is not accelerating ie no net force must act on it. That does not mean that no forces
may be applied to the body. If several forces act simultaneously, equilibrium demands only that the net force ie
the vector sum of the various forces vanish (be equal zero). This is the first condition of static equilibrium which
can quantitatively be written as

F
i
i 0 (1)

which is equivalent to three component equations

F
i
ix 0

F
i
iy 0 (2)

F
i
iz 0
For example when an object rests on a table, there are two forces acting on it, namely its weight and the upward
reaction force of the table on the object. Without the table, the object can not remain at rest but would drop under the
pull of gravity.

If the body remains at rest, it is said to be in static equilibrium while when it is in steady motion in straight line, it is
said to be in dynamic equilibrium.

Torque and the 2nd condition of Equilibrium

Torque is a deciding factor in a state of equilibrium. Torque is defined as the product of force and lever arm or
simply the turning effects of a force. If all the lines a long which several forces lie intersect at the same point, then
the forces are said to be concurrent. The second condition for equilibrium involves or the torque applied to the
object. This condition can be stated as: the resultant of all the torques acting on the object must be to cause no
turning effect ie the clockwise torques must balance the counterclockwise torques


n
n 0
which can quantitatively be written as
torque  Leverarm  Force  F  d

where the lever arm is the length of a perpendicular distance dropped from the pivot to the line of the force.
Also
  r  F  rF sin 
Where r is the magnitude of the lever arm, F is the applied force and θ is the angle of rotation. In the equation above,
τ is given by the right hand rule for the advance of a screw rotated from the direction of r towards that of F.
(Remember the vector cross product!).

Torques can be classified as either clockwise or counterclockwise. By convention, we take counterclockwise torques
as positive and clockwise torques as negative. Moreover, a force whose line passes through the pivot causes zero
torque. This is a reflection of the fact the lever arm for such a force is zero. We therefore conclude that an object will
be in equilibrium if the following conditions are satisfied:

F ni  0 and  n 0
10

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Example A long rope is stretched between points A and B. At each end the rope is tied to a spring scale that
measures the force the rope exerts on the supports. Suppose the rope is pulled sideways at its midpoint with a force
of 400N producing a deflection such that the two segments make angles of 5o with the line AB. What is the reading
of the spring scales?

Solution
Since the body is in equilibrium, we have
X-components
T2 cos 5  T1 cos 5  0 (1)
Y-components
T1 sin 5  T2 sin 5  00  0 (2)
From equation 1, T1  T2
Therefore
T2 sin 5  T2 sin 5  400  2T2 sin 5  400  0
400
T2   2295 N  T1
2 sin 5
The tension in the rope and therefore the force registered on the spring scales is 2295N.
A force of 400N applied perpendicular to the line AB caused a tension of nearly 2300N, more than five times the
applied force in magnitude! There is a practical lesson to be learned here.

FRICTIONAL FORCES
Frictional forces play an important role in the application of Newton’s Laws. There are three major categories of
frictional forces:
(i) Viscous frictional forces occur when objects move through gases and liquids. An example is the frictional force
the air exerts on a fast moving car or plane. The air exerts a retarding force on the car as the car slides through the
air.
(ii) Rolling frictional forces arise as, for example tire rolls on pavement. This type of friction occurs primarily
because the tire deforms as the wheel rolls. Sliding of molecules against each other within the rubber causes energy
to be lost.
(iii) Sliding frictional forces are forces that two surfaces in contact exert on each other to oppose the sliding of one
surface over the other. We will be concerned with sliding frictional forces.

Laws of solid friction

Experimental results on solid friction are summarized in the laws of friction, which state:
1 The frictional force between two surfaces opposes their relative motion.
2 The frictional force is independent of the area of contact of the given surfaces when the normal reaction is
constant.
3 The limiting frictional force is proportional to the normal reaction for the case of static friction. The frictional
force is proportional to the normal reaction for the case of kinetic (dynamic) friction, and is independent of the
relative velocity of the surfaces.

Consider the following simple experiment


If a book resting on the table is pushed lightly with a horizontal force F the book does not move. Apparently, the
table-top also pushes horizontally on the book with an equal and opposite force. The frictional force f opposes the
sliding motion of the book and it is always directed parallel to the sliding surfaces. If the pushing is increased
slowly, then when the pushing force reaches a certain critical value fs, the book suddenly begins to move.
Afterwards to keep the book moving a smaller frictional force fk is enough. This simple experiment shows that two
frictional forces are important: the maximum static frictional force fs that must be overcome before the object can
start moving and the smaller kinetic frictional force fk that opposes the motion of the sliding object. The major
reason for this behavior (cause of friction) is that the surfaces in contact are far from smooth. Their jagged points
penetrate one another and cause the surfaces to resist sliding. Once sliding has begun, however, the surfaces do not
have time to “settle down” onto each other completely. As a result, less force is required to keep them moving than
11

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to start their motion. The frictional force depends on how forcefully the two surfaces are pushed together. This
situation is described by what is called the normal force FN (where normal means perpendicular). The normal force
is the perpendicular force that the supporting surface exerts on the surface that rests on it. The situation is shown
below.
F
W2
θ Fsinθ
W1
W1

FN
FN FN
       
FN  W1 FN  W1  W2 FN  W  F sin 
(a) (b) (c)
Experiments show that the frictional forces f s and f k are often directly proportional to the normal force. In
equation form, we have
f s   s FN
f k   k FN
The factors  s and  k are called the static and kinetic (or dynamic) coefficients of friction, respectively. They vary
widely depending on the nature of the surfaces involved as well as the cleanliness and dryness of the surfaces.
The coefficient of static friction  s can also be found by placing the block A on the surface S and then gently
tilting S until A is on the point of slipping down the plane. The static frictional force F is then equal to mg sin 
where  is the angle of inclination of the plane to the horizontal; the normal reaction R is equal to mg cos so
that
F mg sin 
   tan 
R mg cos 
and hence  s can be found by measuring  . R
F

MgSinθ MgCosθ
θ

Mg
Figure Coefficient of friction by inclined plane

Example: Consider the situation shown

40N
5kg
f 37o

W
P

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©Justus Simiyu 2014 [email protected] Physics Department University of Nairobi

The applied force due to the rope is 40N, and the block has a mass of 5kg. If the block accelerates at 3.0ms-2, how
large a frictional force must be retarding its motion?
Solution A free-body diagram for this situation is as shown below:
40N
P

24N
37o
f

No motion occurs in the y direction and so we are not concerned with the y forces. We have for the x direction
 
 Fnx  ma x  32 N  f  5.0kg  3.0ms 2
f  17 N
Can you show that the coefficient of friction is 0.68 in this case?

WORK, ENERGY AND POWER

WORK: is defined as the product of the force, the displacement of the point at which the force is applied and the
cosine of the angle between the force vector F and the displacement vector S. Mathematically:
 
W  F .S  FS cos 

where W is the amount of work done by the force of magnitude F during a small displacement of magnitude S .

We can regard the product S cos  as the component of the displacement in the direction of the force F , or
alternatively, regard the product F cos  as the component of the force in the direction of the displacement.

Features of the definition

First work requires the action of a force. Without a force, no work is done. Second, the application of a force is a
necessary but not sufficient condition for work. Work is done only if there is displacement of the point of
application of the force, and then only if this displacement has a component along the line of action of the force.
Although work is the product of two vector quantities, it is a scalar. Its SI unit is the Newton-meter or kgm2s-2 and is
given the name Joule. One joule is the amount of work done by a force of one Newton acting over a distance of one
meter in the direction of the displacement.

Example Calculate the work done by a man of mass 65kg in climbing a ladder 4m high.

Solution work done= force x distance=weight x distance = mgh = 65kg x 10ms-2x4m=2600J =2.6kJ

Example How much work is done in lifting a 3kg mass a height of 2m and in lowering it to its initial position?

Solution (i) Since the force is directed up and the displacement is in the same direction,   0 . Hence
W  mgs  3kg  9.8ms 2  2m  58.8 J
(ii) Suppose we now slowly lower this mass to its original position. Again we must apply an upward force of mg to
prevent it from dropping. How much work is done by this force? Now the angle between that force and the
displacement is   180 o and since cos180o=-1, we have
W=-58.8J
The negative sign tells us that some other agent, gravity, has done work on the body. In this example, there are two
forces that act on the 3-kg mass: the force of gravity, which points downwards and the tension in the string which

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©Justus Simiyu 2014 [email protected] Physics Department University of Nairobi

pulls upward. If we had asked for the work done by the force of gravity, it would have been negative during the
lifting of weight and positive as the weight was lowered.

ENERGY: Energy is defined as the capacity to do work. A system may have mechanical energy by virtue of its
position, its internal structure or its motion. There are also other forms of energy besides mechanical, namely
chemical energy(found in foods, oils, charcoal, biogas etc and is due to the kinetic energy and potential energy of
the electrons within atoms), electrical energy(associated with the electric charge and can be produced by generators
from hydroelectric power stations-waterfalls, geothermal stations, nuclear fission etc-), nuclear energy from a
nuclear reactor, thermal energy (due to heat produced from burning fuels, the sun, heaters etc).
It is a remarkable fact about our physical universe that whenever one form of energy is lost by a body/system, this
energy never disappears but it is merely translated into other forms of energy. eg Vehicles burn fuels to produce
both thermal(heat) and mechanical energy.

Mechanical Energy
It is the energy of motion-whether that energy is in action or stored. It exists in two forms:

Kinetic energy- energy possessed by a body by virtue of its motion and it represents the capacity of the body to do

work by virtue of its speed. If a force F acts on an object of mass m such that the mass accelerates uniformly from
1
initial velocity vi to a final velocity  ms over a distance S (as shown),

A S B

Then the work done over the distance S is

    1
W  F .S . But F  ma and S  u t  at 2 . From the relation v  u  at
2
vu
then t so that the work done is
a
 1

W  ma  S  m v 2  u 2  k .e
2

which is the WORK-ENERGY RELATION (THEOREM). If the body starts from rest, then the work done on the
object equals kinetic energy gained by the object.

Potential energy-energy possessed by a body by virtue of its configuration (position) in a force field eg
gravitational field, electrostatic field, magnetic field etc. If an object of mass m is lifted to a height h from the
ground, then:

Work done on the mass W  F  h  mgh

ie work done on the object  gain in the potential energy by the object. Whether a body falls vertically or slides
down an inclined plane, the work done on it by gravity depends only on its mass and on the difference in height
between the initial and final positions. Potential energy of an object depends only on its location and not on the route
by which it arrived at that point. It follows that if a body is transported around a closed path, the change in potential
energy vanishes ie potential energy is independent of the previous history because the gravitational force is
conservative. A force is said to be conservative if the work WAB done by the force in moving a body from A to B
depends only on the position vectors rA and rB. In particular, a conservative force must not depend on time, or on the
velocity or acceleration of the body.
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©Justus Simiyu 2014 [email protected] Physics Department University of Nairobi

Example A 100kg crate of milk is pushed up a frictionless 30o inclined plane to a 1.5m-high platform. How much
work is done in the process?

Solution The x component of mg is –mgsin30o. This force must be balanced by the applied force F to prevent the
crate from slipping down the plane. The work done by the force F is
W  Fd cos 
Since F acts in the direction of motion, θ=0o and cosθ =1. The distance d over which the force acts is the length of
the incline namely
1.5m o  1.5m 
d Hence W  ( mg sin 30 )   1470 J
sin 30  sin 30 
Example Suppose in the previous example the inclined plane is not frictionless and that the coefficient of friction is
0.2. How much work is done in pushing the crate to the 1.5m-high platform?

Solution The work done against the force of gravity is the same as before 1470J. However, the applied force must
be greater than mgsin30 so as to overcome the force of friction which also acts in the –x direction (opposite to the
direction of motion). The force of friction is
f k   k R    k mg cos 30 o  0.2(980 N )(0.866)  170 N
The work done against this frictional force is then
 1.5m 
Wn   f k d  0.2(980 N )(0.866)   510 J
 sin 30 
where n indicates nonconservative forces. The total work done in bringing the crate to the platform is

W  pe  Wn  1470 J  510 J  1980 J

POWER is the rate of doing work ie it is the rate at which energy is converted from one form to another.
Mathematically,
W
P (averagepower )
t
   W S  
Also since W  F .S , then P  F  F .v  Force  velocity
t t
The unit of power is the Watt (W) which is the rate of work (transfer of energy) of one joule per second. Power is
also measured in horsepower (hp) where 1hp=746W. The efficiency  of a machine or system is the ratio of the
power output to power input ie
poweroutput
Efficiency  
powerinput
Example A manually operated winch is used to lift a 200kg mass to the roof of a 10m tall building. Assuming that
you can work at a steady rate of 200W, how long will it take you to lift the object to the roof? Neglect frictional
forces.
Solution The work done equals the increase in potential energy of the 200kg mass, namely
W  mgh  200kg  9.8ms 2  10m  19600 J
Since this work is done at a constant rate of 200W, then
19600 J 19600 J
200W   t   98 sec
t 200W
Let us see how large an error may have been made by neglecting the kinetic energy of the mass during the ascent.
The average speed of the mass is

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©Justus Simiyu 2014 [email protected] Physics Department University of Nairobi

 10m
v  0.102ms 1
98 sec
Kinetic energy during ascent is therefore
1 2 1
k .e  mv  (200kg )(0.102ms 1 )  1.04 J
2 2
an amount negligibly small compared with the change of 19600J in potential energy. We can therefore safely
neglect this small amount of k.e in the problem’s solution.

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©Justus Simiyu 2014 [email protected] Physics Department University of Nairobi

 2. ROTATIONAL DYNAMICS
Angular velocity
We consider the kind of motion where an object moves around a circular path about some fixed point. Examples are
moon and earth revolving around the sun, the rim of a bicycle wheel, a stone being whirled on a string etc. In this
chapter the system is assumed to move in a circle with a uniform speed around a fixed point O as the centre.

B
θ v
O
s
θ

If the object moves from A to B so that the radius OA moves through an angle θ, its angular velocity, ω, about O
may be defined as the change of the angle per second. Considering time t taken by the object to move from A to B
we have

 [units: radians per second].
t
The period for this kind of motion is given by
2
T since 2π radians is the angle in one revolution.

If s is the length of arc AB, then s/r = θ, or

s = rθ
taking
s 
 r gives
t t
v  r (Relationship between angular and linear velocity).
Angular acceleration (α)
An object moving in a circle at constant speed experiences a force that pulls it towards the centre of the circular
path. This force is known as centripetal force. If v is the uniform speed in the circle of radius r, then the acceleration
is given by
v2

r
But v  r
Therefore

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©Justus Simiyu 2014 [email protected] Physics Department University of Nairobi

 v 2 ( r ) 2
  r 2
r r
Centripetal Forces
Consider the situation below
A

mg

T1

T2
B O

T3
mg

mg
The figure shows an object of mass m whirled with constant speed v in a vertical circle of centre O by a string of
length r. Let T1 be the tension in the string at point A (the highest point). Then since the weight mg acts downwards
towards O, then the force towards the centre is given by

mv 2
F  T1  mg 
r

mv 2
T1   mg
r
Suppose T2 is the tension when the object is at point B, then at this point mg acts vertically downwards and has no
effect on T2. So
mv 2
F  T2 
r
Finally considering at point C where it is at the lowest point, mg acts in the opposite direction to T3 giving

mv 2
F  T3  mg 
r
leading to

mv 2
T3   mg
r
Comparing T1, T2 and T3 from the above equations, it is seen that maximum tension in the string is at point

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©Justus Simiyu 2014 [email protected] Physics Department University of Nairobi

C (i.e, T3 is the highest). This implies that T3 must be greater than mg by mv2/r to make the object keep moving in a
circular path.

Banking
Suppose a car is moving round a banked road in a circular path of horizontal radius r.

R2

R1

mv 2
r

F2
F1 θ

mg

If the only forces at the wheels A, B are the normal reactions R1 and R2 respectively, then the force towards the
centre of the track is (R1 + R2)sinθ where θ is the angle of inclination of the plane to the horizontal. Hence

mv 2
( R1  R2 ) sin  
r
For vertical equilibrium

( R1  R2 ) cos   mg
Dividing the two equations leads to
v2
tan  
rg
Implying that for a given velocity v and radius r, the angle of inclination of the track for no sided slip must be
tan-1(v2/rg).
This has also been applied on rail tracks.

Angular Momentum
Consider a single particle of mass m which at one instant of time has a momentum p and is at a distance r from the
origin of coordinates. The angular momentum L of the particle is defined as a vector of magnitude

L  rp sin 

Where θ is the angle between the momentum vector p and the position vector r. The direction of the vector L is
along the perpendicular to the plane defined by the vectors p and r. The direction of the vector L along this
perpendicular is specified by the right-hand rule.

I.e L = r x p

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©Justus Simiyu 2014 [email protected] Physics Department University of Nairobi

But p = mv, therefore

L = mr x v (units: Kgms-1)

The angular momentum of a particle moving with constant velocity in the absence of force is constant, i.e. the
magnitude of L =rpsin θ is constant and the direction of L is also constant. This situation describes a free particle
and represents conservation of angular momentum.

Consider a case of conservation of angular momentum, i.e a case of a particle in a uniform circular motion, such as a
stone whirled along a circle at the end of a string (Fig below)

z L

The vector L is perpendicular to the plane of the circle. In this case, since the position vector is always perpendicular
to the velocity vector, the magnitude of the angular momentum vector is

L  rp sin   mrv

So the direction of the angular momentum vector is perpendicular to the plane of the circle. As the particle moves
around the circle, L remains constant in magnitude and direction.

Rigid Body
A rigid body is one that consists of millions of particles, each at different places. Remember the angular momentum
for a single particle
L = r x p = mr x v
where r is the position vector of the particle (relative to origin) and p is the momentum. Total angular momentum for
a rigid body is the sum of the angular momentum of all particles in the body. If these particles have masses m,
velocities vi and the position vector ri (relative to a given origin of coordinates), then the total angular momentum is

n
L   mi ri  vi
i 1
Where n is the total no. of particles. Note that the angular momentum obtained from the above formula depends on
the choice of origin coordinates.

Moment of Inertia (I)

Moment of inertia, (or angular mass, SI units kg·m2) is a measure of an object's resistance to changes in its rotation
rate. This is the rotational analogue of mass in linear motion. Consider a rigid body rotating about a fixed axis O,
and a particle A of the object makes an angle θ with a fixed line OY in space at some instant.

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©Justus Simiyu 2014 [email protected] Physics Department University of Nairobi

 O

r1
A

r1 ω

The angular velocity ω of every particle is same everywhere. For a particle at A, the velocity is v1 = r1ω (r1 = OA).
The total kinetic energy for the whole body is the sum of individual ke given by

1
ke   2 ( mr 2 )
2
Comparing this with ke for linear motion (ke = 1/2mv2) shows that the magnitude of Σmr2 can be denoted by the
symbol I and is known as the moment of inertia of the object about its axis.

Torque on a rotating body

Consider a rigid body rotating about a fixed axis O.

r1
θ A
m1

r1 ω

The force acting on a particle A = m1 x acceleration given by

d d 2
´m1  (r1 )  m1r1 2
dt dt

 m1r1
The moment of this force about the axis O = force x perpendicular distance from O which is

m1r1  r1  m1r12
The total moment of all forces (or total torque) is

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©Justus Simiyu 2014 [email protected] Physics Department University of Nairobi

   ( mr 2 )  

 I

Conservation of Angular Momentum

The angular momentum of one particle is

L=rxP
The rate of change of this momentum is
dL d dr dP
 r  P   Pr
dt dt dt dt
Taking the first term on RHS of the above equation we have
dr
 P  v  (mv)  m(v  v)  0
dt
While the second term is equal to force F (force is equal to rate of change of momentum).

This implies that

dP
r  r  F and
dt
dL
 rF
dt
For a rigid body, the total angular momentum is the sum of angular momentum of individual particles and the rate of
change of the total angular momentum is the sum of the rates of change of individual angular momentum.
i.e.
n
dL
  ri  Fi
dt i 1
Where Fi is the force acting on the particle i. But ri x Fi is the torque of the sum Fi on particle i. If the forces acting
on the particle are external and if the total external forces are such that the total external torque is zero, then the
angular momentum is conserved, i.e.
L = [constant].

This is the law of conservation of angular momentum.

Summary

Quantity Linear Rotational

Position x θ
Velocity v ω
Acceleration a α
Equations of v= u + at ω = ωo + αt
Motion s = ut + 1/2at2 θ = ωot +1/2αt2
v2 = u2 + 2as ω2 = ωo2 +2α θ
Mass m I
Newton’s 2nd law F = ma τ = Iα
Momentum p= mv L=Iω
Work Fd τθ
KE 1/2mv2 1/2Iω

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©Justus Simiyu 2014 [email protected] Physics Department University of Nairobi

 3. SIMPLE HARMONIC MOTION (SHM) AND GRAVITATION

A pendulum swinging back and forth, the vibration of a guitar string, a mass vibrating at the end of the spring- these
and all objects that vibrate have one thing in common: each system is subject to a restoring force that increases with
increasing distortion. A restoring force is one that tries to pull or push a displaced object back to its equilibrium
position. Whenever the system is displaced from equilibrium, Fr urges the system to return.

(a) (b) (c)

Fr

x
Fr
Fr

The record of its vibratory motion, a displacement versus time graph is at least sinusoidal or cosinusoidal in form.

a λ c
y
Amplitude

d t

b
There are certain terms used to describe vibratory systems and we shall illustrate them by reference to the figure
above.
One complete vibration or cycle of the mass occurs when the mass vibrates from the position indicated by point A to
the point indicated by C or by any two other similar points that are in phase. It is called the wavelength and the type
of motion is periodic or vibratory motion.
The time taken for the system to undergo one complete vibration is the period T of the system. Since the system will
1
undergo complete vibrations in unit time, this quantity is the frequency of the vibration and we have
T
1
f  1
T
The dimensions of frequency are (time)-1. Sometimes frequency is expressed in cycles or vibrations per second. One
cycle per second is denoted as one hertz (Hz) which is the SI unit of frequency.
The distance AD is the amplitude of the vibration. It is the distance from the equilibrium position (dashed line) to
the position of maximum displacement. It is only half as large as the total vertical distance traveled by the mass.

Simple Harmonic Motion

Condition(s) a system must satisfy if its vibration is to be sinusoidal
Consider the system shown below

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©Justus Simiyu 2014 [email protected] Physics Department University of Nairobi

 Fr m

Xo
0 A

If the spring obeys Hooke’s law then Fr = -kXo. At equilibrium, the mass is at point O. Suppose it is displaced a
distance X o as shown and released. The restoring force Fr will pull the mass back toward point O and the mass
will vibrate around O as centre. If this motion is to be sinusoidal or cosinusoidal in this case, then the displacement
X of the mass will be given by
2
X  X o cos t 2
T
2
The function cos t is the oscillatory function traced in the figure below. Notice that cos  goes through one
T
complete cycle as θ goes from 0 to 2 . In the above equation, the angle goes from 0 to 2 as t goes from 0 to T.
hence T is the time taken for one complete cycle and is the period. Another feature about equation 2 is the
factor X o . Because cos  oscillates between +1 and -1 as θ keeps increasing, the displacement X oscillates
between + X o and - X o as time goes on. Therefore X o is the amplitude of the vibration.

y
+x0 T

0
t
-x0
2π

What sort of force acts on the mass to produce this sinusoidal motion? It is simply the force Fr exerted on the mass
by the spring. We can find Fr from our equation for X by using equation 2 to compute the acceleration of the mass
and then by using F  m a to find Fr . To carry out this, we differentiate equation 2 with respect to time in order to
find the velocity of the mass. We have
dx d  2  2 2
v   X o cos t   X o sin t 3
dt dt  T  T T
The velocity we have found is the velocity of the mass in figure 3. If we now differentiate v with respect to t, we
obtain the acceleration of the mass. It is
dv 2 d  2  4 2 2 4 2
a  X o  sin t    2 X o cos t 2 X 4
dt T dt  T  T T T

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©Justus Simiyu 2014 [email protected] Physics Department University of Nairobi

The acceleration of the mass is proportional to the negative displacement. This acceleration is caused by the
unbalanced restoring force Fr . Therefore F  m a becomes
4 2
Fr   m X 5
T2
The restoring force is opposite in direction to the displacement X, a condition that is inherent in the nature of
restoring forces. In addition, the restoring force is proportional to the displacement and this is equivalent to saying
that the system obeys Hooke’s law. Thus we have arrived at the following result: a system that vibrates sinusoidally
obeys Hooke’s law in which the restoring force is proportional to the distortion. Such a system obeys equation 2 and
is called simple harmonic motion. Hence to test whether or not a vibratory system obeys a sinusoidal equation, we
simply check to see that the system obeys Hooke’s law.
From Hooke’s law, the sprig constant k is the proportionality constant so that
Fr  kX (Hooke’s law)
This relation simply states that the restoring force is proportional to the distortion and is directed opposite to the
direction. If we compare this form of Hooke’s law and equation 5, we see that
4 2 m
k 2
m or T  2 6
T k
This is a very important relation because it gives the period of vibration of the mass m in terms of the spring
constant k. the period of vibration is long for large mass(for large inertia) and for small k (because the force exerted
1
by the spring is small). The frequency of vibration can also be found from f  and from equations 3 and 6 we
T
have, for velocity,
k 2
v X o sin T 7
m T
Squaring this equation and adding it to the square of equation 2 gives
m 2 2 k 2
v  Xo  X 2  v  (Xo  X 2 ) 8
k m
Notice that v is maximum when X  O , that is, when the system passes through equilibrium.
Example When a 30g mass is hung from the end of a spring, the spring stretches 8.0cm. this same spring is used in
the experiment with a 200g mass at its end. The spring is stretched 5.0cm and released. If we assume that the spring
slides without friction, find the following for the mass: (a) period of vibration (b) frequency (c) acceleration as a
function of X (d) speed of the mass as it goes through the equilibrium position.

Solution First we must find the spring constant. In a stretching experiment,

stretchingforce 0.30kg  9.8ms 2
k   3.7 Nm 1
stretch 0.080m
m 0.200kg
(a) T  2  2  1.466s
k 3.7 Nm 1
1
(b) f   0.682 Hz
T
F kX  3.7 Nm 1 
(c) a  r  
m m
  
 X   18.5s 2 X 
 0.200kg 
Why is the acceleration greatest at the extreme of the vibration? Why is it zero when X=0?

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©Justus Simiyu 2014 [email protected] Physics Department University of Nairobi

 k
(d) When X=0, vo  X o  0.215ms 1
m
ENERGY CONSIDERATIONS

Fr
X Us K v a
(a)
X0 1/2kXo2 0 0 -am
(b)
Fr = 0 0 0 1/2kXo2 vm 0
Fr
(c) -Xo 1/2kXo2 0 0 am

(d) 0 0 1/2kXo2 vm 0
Fr = 0
(e) 1/2kXo2 0 0 -am
Xo
Fr

When a spring is stretched a distance X o and the mass is at rest, the energy (all the energy is potential energy)
stored in the stretched spring is
1 2
Us  kX o
2
Because the mass is at rest at (a), kinetic energy K is zero. The restoring force of the spring accelerates the mass
toward the left in (a) by the time the system reaches the configuration in (b), the spring is no longer distorted so
U s  0 . The energy originally stored in the spring has been changed to kinetic energy. Thus in (b) we have
1 2
K kX o .
2
Since K has now achieved its maximum value, the velocity of the mass is largest. But because Fr  0 in (b), the
acceleration of the mass is zero. In general
1. The energy changes back and forth from U s to K. At the ends of the path, K  0 and U s is maximum.
At the centre, U s  0 and K is maximum.
2. The velocity of the mass is largest as the mass passes through the centre. It is zero when the mass is at
either end of the path.
3. The acceleration is zero at the midpoint and is maximum at the two ends.
At any point X the total energy of the system is
1 1
Total energy  Us  K  kX 2  mv 2
2 2

1 2
Since the total energy stored in the spring is kX o , we arrive at a very important relation stating how the energy
2
of the system is apportioned:
1 2 1 1
kX o  kX 2  mv 2 9
2 2 2
If we solve this equation for v we obtain equation 8.

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©Justus Simiyu 2014 [email protected] Physics Department University of Nairobi

Another vibratory system of interest is the pendulum. The pendulum mass oscillates back and forth between the
positions shown. At positions A and C, the energy is all potential U g  mgy o . At any other position where the
bob’s height is y, we have
1 2
Total energy U g  K  mgy o  mgy  mv
2
This is the basic energy equation for a pendulum. Other vibratory systems can be analyzed in a similar way. In all of
them, interchange between U and K occurs. The mass is moving fastest when the system is moving through its
equilibrium configuration because then all the energy is kinetic.

Example Suppose the pendulum below is released from a position where y o  20cm. Find the speed of the mass
at (a) point B and (b) when the value of y  1.30cm .

C
A yo

A
Solution Using the energy method, we can write
1 2
mgy o  mgy  mv
2
from which we have v  2 g ( yo  y)
(a) Using y  0 gives v  2  9.8ms 2  (0.20  0)m  0.626ms 1
(b) In the same way with y  0.0130m we find v  0.37ms 1

Equation of motion for SHM

Simple harmonic motion occurs if the system obeys Hooke’s law where the restoring force is proportional to the
distortion. For a distortion X, this requires that
Fr  kX
where k is the spring constant and the negative sign is arising since it is a restoring force. When X is positive, Fr will
be directed toward –X. the equation of motion for a mass-spring system is obtained by writing F  m a for the
system. Since F  Fr in this case, we have
 kX  ma
However the acceleration itself depends on X because
dv d d X d 2 X
a  
dt dt dt dt 2
Thence the equation of motion becomes
d2X k
2
 X.
dt m
This is the typical equation of motion for SHM. Mathematicians call it a differential equation. When you study
differential equations, you will learn that in term of periodic motion the solution of this equation is
X  X o sin( 2ft   o )

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 1 k
where f 
2 m
The constant Xo is the amplitude of the vibration and  o is an arbitrary phase constant. The result confirms that a
system obeying Hooke’s law gives rise to sinusoidal vibration with the frequency given above.

Example The spring-mass system shown below is vertical and is therefore influenced by the force of gravity. Does
it still undergo SHM?

y
Fr

Solution
The force acting on the mass is
F  ky  mg
Where down is taken as positive. Using the F  ma gives
d2y
 ky  mg  m
dt 2
Let us change variables from y to y1 where
mg
y1  y 
k
mg
Notice from the figure that is simply the amount the spring stretches due to the weight of the mass. By
k
changing variables, we subtract this change in spring length. The quantity y1 is simply the displacement from the
equilibrium position of the loaded spring. With this new variable, the equation of motion becomes
d 2 y1
m 2  ky1
dt
And so the coordinate y1 undergoes simple harmonic motion with the frequency as though gravity were not present.
We therefore conclude that gravity shifts the equilibrium point but does not otherwise affect the vibration.

NEWTON’S LAW OF GRAVITATION

The force that binds together progressively larger structures from star to galaxy to supercluster and may be drawing
them all toward the great attractor is the gravitational force. This force not only holds you on Earth but also reaches
out across intergalactic space.

Physicists like to study seemingly unrelated phenomena to show that a relationship can be found if they are
examined closely enough. This search for unification has been going on for centuries. For example, in 1665 Isaac
Newton made a basic contribution to physics when he showed that the force that holds the Moon in its orbit is the
same force that makes an apple fall. We take this so much for granted now that it is not easy for us to comprehend
the ancient belief that the motions of earthbound bodies and heavenly bodies were different in kind and were
governed by different laws.

Newton concluded that not only does Earth attract an apple and the Moon but every body in the universe attracts
every other body: this tendency of bodies to move toward each other is called gravitation. Newton’s conclusion
takes a little getting used to, because the familiar attraction of Earth for earthbound bodies is so great that it
overwhelms the attraction that earthbound bodies have for each other. For example, Earth attracts an apple with a
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©Justus Simiyu 2014 [email protected] Physics Department University of Nairobi

force magnitude of about 0.8N. You also attract a nearby apple (and it attracts you), but the force of attraction has
less magnitude than the weight of a speck of dust. Quantitatively, Newton proposed a force law that we call
Newton’s law of gravitation: Every particle attracts any other particle with a gravitational force whose
magnitude is given by
m1m 2
F G
r2
Here m1 and m2 are the masses of the particles, r is the distance between them and G is the gravitational constant,
with a value that is given by
G  6.67  10 11 Nm 2 kg 2  6.67  10 11 m 3 kg 1 s 2
As the figure below shows, a particle m2 attracts a particle m1 with a gravitational force F that is directed toward
particle m2 and particle m1 attracts particle m2 with a gravitational force  F that is directed toward m1 .

m2

-F

F
r
m1

The forces F and  F form a third law force pair; they are opposite in direction but equal in magnitude. They
depend on the separation of the two particles, but not their location: the particles could be a deep cave or in deep
space. Also the forces F and  F are not altered by the presence of other bodies, even if those bodies lie between
the two particles we are considering.
The strength of the gravitational force ie how strongly two particles with given masses at a given separation attract
each other, depends on the value of the gravitational constant G. If G, by some miracle, were suddenly multiplied by
a factor of 10, you would be crushed to the floor by earth’s attraction. If G were divided by this factor, earth’s
attraction would be weak enough that you could jump over a building.

Although Newton’s law of gravitation applies strictly to particles, we can also apply it to real objects as long as the
sizes of the objects are small compared to the distance between them. The moon and earth are far enough apart so
that to a good approximation, we can treat them both as particles. But what about an apple and earth? From the point
of view of the apple, the broad and level earth stretching out to the horizon beneath the apple certainly does not look
like a particle. Newton solved the apple-earth problem by proving an important theorem called the shell theorem: A
uniform spherical shell of matter attracts a particle that is outside the shell as if all the shell’s mass were
concentrated at its centre. Earth can be thought of as a nest of such shells, one within another and each attracting a
particle outside earth’s surface as if the mass of that shell were at the center of the shell. Thus from the apple’s point
of view, earth does behave like a particle one that is located at the centre of earth and has a mass equal to that of
earth.

11
Example Assuming the orbit of the earth about the sun to be circular with radius 1.5  10 m , find the mass of the
sun.

Solution
The centripetal force needed to hold the earth in an orbit of radius R is furnished by the gravitational attraction of the
sun. We therefore have
Centripetal force  gravitational force

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 m E v 2 Gm E mS Rv 2
  m S 
R R2 G
where v is the speed of the earth in its orbit around the sun. Since the earth travels around its orbit once each year
7
or in a time of 3.15  10 s then we have
2 (1.5  1011 m)
v  3.0  10 4 ms 1
3.15  10 7 s
from which
mS  2.0  10 30 kg

GRAVITATION NEAR EARTH’S SURFACE

Escape velocity
If you fire a projectile upward, usually it will slow, stop and return to Earth. There is, however, a certain minimum
initial velocity that will cause it to move upward forever, theoretically coming to rest only at infinity. This initial
velocity is called the (Earth’s) escape velocity.
Consider a projectile of mass m leaving the surface of a planet or some other astronomical body or system with
1 2
escape velocity v . It has a kinetic energy K given by mv and potential energy U given by
2
GMm
U 
R
In which M is the mass of the planet and R is its radius. When the projectile reaches infinity, it stops and thus has no
kinetic energy. It also has no potential energy because this is our zero-potential-energy configuration. Its total
energy at infinity is therefore zero. From the principle of conservation of energy, its total energy at the planet’s
surface must also have been zero so that
1 2   GMm  2GM
K U  mv   0v
2  R  R
The escape velocity’s does not depend on the direction in which a projectile is fired from a planet. However,
attaining that speed is easier if the projectile is fired in the direction the launch site is moving as the planet rotates
about its axis. For example, rockets are launched eastward at Cape Canaveral to take advantage of the Cape’s
eastward speed of 1500km/h due to Earth’s rotation.

The equation above can be applied to find the escape velocity of a projectile from any astronomical body provided
we substitute the mass of the body for M and the radius of the body for R. the table below shows some escape
velocities from some astronomical bodies.

Body Mass (kg) Radius(m) Escape speed(km/s)

a 21 5
Ceres 1.17  10 3.8  10 0.64
Earth’s moon 7.36  10 22 1.74  10 6 2.38
Earth 5.98  10 24 6.37  10 6 11.20
Jupiter 1.90  10 27 7.15  10 7 59.50
Sun 1.99  10 30 6.96  10 8 618
Sirius B b
2  10 30 1 10 7 5200
Neutron starc 2  10 30 1 10 4 2  10 5
a- the most massive of the asteroids
b- a white dwarf(a star in a final stage of evolution) that is a companion of the bright star Sirius
c- the collapsed core of a star that remains after that star has exploded in a supernova event.

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PLANETS AND SATELLITES: KEPLER’ LAWS
The motions of the planets, as they seemingly wander against the background of the stars, have been a puzzle since
the dawn of history. The loop-the-loop motion of Mars was particularly baffling. Johannes Kepler (1571-1630), after
a lifetime of study, worked out the empirical laws that govern these motions. Tycho Brahe (1546-1601), the last of
the great astronomers to make observations without the help of a telescope, compiled the extensive data from which
Kepler was able to derive the three laws of planetary motion that now bear his name. Later Newton 91642-1727)
showed that his law of gravitation leads to Kepler’s laws.
In this section we discuss each of Kepler’s law in turn. Although here we apply the laws to planets orbiting the sun,
they hold equally well for satellites, either natural or artificial, orbiting Earth or any other massive central body.

1 THE LAW OF ORBITS: All planets move in elliptical orbits, with the sun at one focus.
The figure below shows a planet of mass m moving in such an orbit around the sun, whose mass is M. We assume
that M  m so that the centre of mass of the Planet-Sun system is approximately at the centre of the Sun. the orbit
in the is described by giving its semimajor axis a and its eccentricity e, the latter defined so that ea is the distance
from the centre of the ellipse to either focus F or F`. An eccentricity of zero corresponds to a circle, in which the two
foci merge to a single central point. The eccentricities of the planetary orbits are not large so that the orbits look
circular.eg the eccentricity of the Earth’s orbit is only 0.0167.

Ra

m
r
M
θ

F F’
ea ea

2 THE LAW OF AREAS: A line that connects a planet to the Sun sweeps out equal areas in the plane of the
dA
planet’s orbit in equal times; that is the rate at which it sweeps out area A is constant.
dt
Qualitatively, this law tells us that the planet will move most slowly when it is farthest from the sun and most
rapidly when it is nearest to the sun. As it turns out Kepler’s second law is totally equivalent to the law of
conservation of momentum as proved below.

P┴
rΔθ
dθ
r Pr
θ
θ
m
m r

The area of the shaded wedge in the figure below closely approximates the area swept out in time t by a line
connecting the sun and the planet, which are separated by a distance r. the area A of the wedge is approximately
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the area of a triangle with base r and height r. since the area of a triangle is one-half of the base times the
height, then
1 2
A r 
2
dA 1 2 d 1 2
In the limit t  0 ,  r  r (1)
dt 2 dt 2
in which  is the angular speed of the rotating line connecting Sun and Planet. Figure (b) shows the linear
momentum p of the planet, along with its radial and perpendicular components. The magnitude of the angular
momentum L of the planet about the Sun is given by the product of r and p  , the component of p perpendicular
to r. here, for a planet of mass m,
L  rp   (r )(mv )  (r )(mr )  mr 2 (2)
2
where we have replaced v with its equivalent r  . From equation 1 we have
dA L
 (3)
dt 2m
If dA dt is constant, as Kepler said it, then equation 3 means that L must also be constant-angular momentum is
conserved. Kepler’s second law is indeed equivalent to the law of conservation of angular momentum.

3 THE LAW OF PERIODS: The square of the period of any planet is proportional to the cube of the
semimajor axis of its orbit
Consider the circular orbit with radius r (the radius of a circle is equivalent to the semimajor axis of an ellipse) in the
figure below.

θ
r
M

Applying Newton’s second law ( F  ma) to the orbiting planet yields

GMm
 (m)( 2 r ) (4)
r2
2
If we use  , where T is the period of the motion, then we obtain Kepler’s third law
T
 4 2  3
T 2   r (5)
 GM 
The quantity in parentheses is a constant that depends only on the mass M of the central body about which the planet
orbits. Equation 5 holds also for elliptical orbits, provided we replace r with a, the semimajor axis of the ellipse. This
T2
law predicts that the ratio 3 has essentially the same value for every planetary orbit around a given massive body.
a
The table below shows how well it holds for the orbits of the planets of the solar system.

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Table: Kepler’s Law of Periods for the Solar System

T2
Planet semimajor axis a (1010m) period T (yrs) 3
(10 34 y 2 m 3 )
a
Mercury 5.79 0.241 2.99
Venus 10.8 0.615 3.00
Earth 15.0 1.00 2.96
Mars 22.8 1.88 2.98
Jupiter 77.8 11.9 3.01
Saturn 143 29.5 2.98
Uranus 287 84.0 2.98
Neptune 450 165 2.99
Pluto 590 248 2.99

SATELLITES: ORBITS AND ENERGY

As a satellite orbits Earth on its elliptical path, both its speed, which fixes its kinetic energy K, and its distance from
the center of Earth, which fixes its gravitational potential energy U, fluctuates with the fixed periods. However, the
mechanical energy E of the satellite remains constant. (Since the satellite’s mass is so much smaller than Earth’s
mass, we assign U and E for the Earth-satellite system to the satellite a lone. The potential energy of the system is
give by

GMm
U  (0)
r
(with U  0 for infinite separation). r is the radius of the orbit, assumed for the time being to be circular, and M
and m are the masses of Earth and the satellite, respectively. To find the kinetic energy of a satellite in a circular
orbit, we write Newton’s second law as
GMm v2
 m (1)
r2 r
v2
where is the centripetal acceleration of the satellite. Then from 1, the kinetic energy is
r
1 GMm
K  mv 2  (2)
2 2r
which shows that for a satellite in a circular orbit,
U
K  (3)
2
The total mechanical energy of the orbiting satellite is
GMm GMm GMm
E  K U    (4)
2r r 2r
This tells us that for a satellite in a circular orbit, the total energy E is the negative of the kinetic energy K:
E  K (5)
For a satellite in an elliptical orbit of semimajor axis a, we can substitute a for r in equation 4 to find the mechanical
energy as
GMm
E (6)
2a
Equation 6 tells us that the total energy of an orbiting satellite depends only on the semimajor axis of its orbit and
not on its eccentricity e. eg four orbits with the same semimajor axis are shown in figure a below. The same satellite

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©Justus Simiyu 2014 [email protected] Physics Department University of Nairobi

would have the same total mechanical energy E in all four orbits. Figure b shows the variation of K, U and E with r
for a satellite moving in a circular orbit about a massive central body.

e=0 e = 0.5 Energy

e = 0.8
e = 0.9
K(r)
m

E(r) r

U(r)

Example A playful astronaut releases a bowling ball, of mass m = 7.20kg, into circular orbit about Earth at an
altitude h of 350km.
(a) What is the mechanical energy E of the ball in its orbit? (b) What is the mechanical energy Eo of the ball on the
launhpad at say Cape Canaveral? From there to the orbit, what is the change E in the ball’s mechanical energy?

Solution (a) the key idea here is that we can get E from the orbital energy, given by equation 4, if we first find the
orbital radius r. that radius is
r  R  h  6370km  350km  6.72  10 6 m
in which R is the radius of Earth. Then from equation 4, the mechanical energy is
GMm (6.67  10 11 Nm 2 kg 2 )(5.98  10 24 kg )(7.20kg )
E   2.14  10 8 J  214MJ
2r 2  6.72  10 6 m
Solution (b) the key idea is that, on the launch-pad, the ball is not in orbit and thus equation 4 does not apply.
Instead we must find E 0  K o  U o , where K o is the ball’s kinetic energy and U o is the gravitational potential
energy of the ball-Earth. To find U o , we use equation 0 to write

GMm (6.67  10 11 Nm 2 kg 2 )(5.98  10 24 kg )(7.20kg )

Uo    6
 4.51  10 8 J  451MJ
R 6.37  10 m
The kinetic energy K o of the ball is due to the ball’s motion with Earth’s rotation. You can show that K o is less
than 1MJ, which is negligible relative to U o . Thus the mechanical energy of the ball on the launchpad is

E o  K o  U o  0  451MJ  451MJ
The increase in the mechanical energy of the ball from launchpad to orbit is

E  E  Eo  (214MJ )  (451MJ )  237 MJ

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 4. FLUID MECHANICS & PROPERTIES OF MATTER

Pressure is defined as the average force per unit area at the particular region of fluid (liquid or gas) ie
F
P
A
where F is the normal force due to the liquid on the side of area A . At a given point in a liquid, the pressure can
act in any direction ie pressure is a scalar quantity. If the pressure were not the same, there would be an unbalanced
force on the fluid at that point and the fluid would move. The logical basis for the statement that pressure is exerted
equally in all directions, then, is simply that otherwise the parts of the fluid would not be in equilibrium. Also
pressure increases with depth, h , below the liquid surface and with its density  so that
P  hg
When g is in ms-2, h is in m and ρ is in kgm-3, then the pressure is in Newton per meter squared (Nm-2). The bar is a
unit of pressure used in meteorology and by definition,
1 bar  105 Nm-2
The Pascal (Pa) is the name given to a pressure of 1 Nm-2. Thus
1 bar  105Pa
Pressure is often expressed in terms of that due to a height of mercury (Hg). One unit is the torr (after Torricelli);
1torr  1mmHg  133.3Nm-2
From P  hg it follows that the pressure in a liquid is the same at all points on the same horizontal level in it.
Thus a liquid filling the vessel shown below rises to the same height in each section if ABCD is horizontal.

-------------------------------------------
- - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - -
A B C D

Fig Pressure in a vessel is independent of the cross-section

Atmospheric Pressure
A barometer is an instrument for measuring the pressure of the atmosphere which is required in weather forecasting.
It consists of a vertical tube about a meter long containing mercury with a vacuum at the closed top. The other end
of the tube is below the surface of mercury contained in a vessel B.

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©Justus Simiyu 2014 [email protected] Physics Department University of Nairobi

 vacuum
A
x
H = 760mm
A
760mm = h

B
B

The pressure on the surface of the mercury in B is atmospheric pressure A and since the pressure is transmitted
through the liquid, the atmospheric pressure supports the column of mercury in the tube. Suppose the column is a
vertical height H above the level of the mercury in B. then if H  760mm  0.76m and ρ = 13600kgm-3, we have
P  Hg  0.76  13600  9.8  1.013  105Nm-2
The pressure at the bottom of a column of mercury 760mm high for a particular density and value of g is known as
standard pressure or one atmosphere. By definition,
1 atmosphere  1.01325  105 Nm-2
Standard temperature and pressure is 0oC and 760mmHg. It should be noted that the pressure P at a place X below
the surface of a liquid is given by P  Hg where H is the vertical distance of X below the surface. In fig ii
above, a very long barometer tube is inclined at an angle of 60o to the vertical. The length of mercury along the
slanted side of the tube is x mm say. If the atmospheric pressure is the same as in i, then the vertical height to the
mercury surface is still 760mm.

So
760 760
x cos 60 o  760  x    1520mm
cos 60 0.5
Archimedes’ Principle
An object immersed in a fluid experiences a buoyant (upthrust) force equal to the weight of the fluid that it displaces

Application of the principle

The buoyant force of a fluid on an object depends on the weight of fluid displaced and thus on the density of the
fluid and the volume of the fluid displaced (since M  D  V ). In the case of a totally immersed object, the
volume of fluid displaced is just equal to the volume of the object, and therefore if the buoyant force is measured
and the fluid density known, the density of the object can be readily calculated. From this known volume and its
mass, the density of the object may be found. It is not easy to measure directly the volume of irregularly shaped
objects with great accuracy, but Archimedes’ principle provides a way to find volume accurately, since only balance
measurements are needed.
If two substances have densities D1 and D2, then the density of the second substance relative to the first is D2/D1.
mass m2 m
Since density  , then D2  and D1  1
volume V2 V1
D2 m 2
If one compares equal volumes of the two substances so that V2 = V1, then the relative density  , showing
D1 m1
that the relative density will equal the ratio of their masses or their weights. The density of a substance relative to
that of water is called the specific gravity of the substance ie the specific gravity of a substance is equal to the
density of the substance divided by the density of water or the specific gravity of a substance is equal to the weight

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©Justus Simiyu 2014 [email protected] Physics Department University of Nairobi

of a certain volume of the substance divided by the weight of an equal volume of water. In accurate work it is
necessary to specify the temperature at which the measurements are made.

Example A chunk of copper suspended from a balance weighs 156.8g in air. When it is completely surrounded by
pure water at 20oC, the reading on the balance is 139.2g. Calculate the specific gravity of copper.

Solution
The weight of copper in air = 156.8g

The apparent weight of copper in water = 139.2g

Therefore the buoyant force of the water = 156.8-139.2 = 17.6g

By Archimedes’ principle, the weight of the displaced water = 17.6g

weightofCopper
The specific gravity of the copper=
weightofequalvolumeofwater
But the volume of the displaced water is equal to the volume of the copper which displaces it. Therefore

156.8 g
The specific gravity of copper =  8.91 .
17.6 g
Therefore the density of the copper in this sample is 8.91 times the density of pure water at 20oC. When the specific
gravity of a substance is known, its density in any units can be calculated from the known density of water.
Wherever the force of gravity acts on a fluid, the fluid exerts a buoyant force as a result of difference in pressure at
different levels. Every fish and submarine in the sea is buoyed up by a force equal to the weight of water displaced.
To remain submerged these objects must have a weight equal to or greater than the buoyant force. If they wish to
move from one level to another, the balance between the force of gravity and the buoyant force must be disturbed.
Some fish can rise by expanding their bodies, thereby displacing more water. Submarines are made to rise by
decreasing their weight by forcing water out of their ballast tanks. The air of the earth’s atmosphere also exerts a
buoyant force on all objects immersed in it eg Balloons utilize the buoyancy of air. If a gas such as hydrogen or
helium is used to inflate a light-weight plastic envelope, the buoyancy force of the air can be considerably greater
than the weight of the balloon. Such balloons are used in making high altitude measurements of various properties of
the atmosphere.

Example A weather balloon has a volume of 0.5m3 when inflated. The weight of the envelope is 350g. If the
balloon is filled with helium, what weight of instrument can it carry a loft? The density of air is 1.29kgm-3 and the
density of helium is 0.138 times the density of air.

Solution
By Archimedes’ principle, the buoyant force of the air is =the weight of air displaced=the weight of 0.5m3 of air

=0.5m3  1.29kgm-3=0.65kg=650g
Since the relative density of helium is 0.138(air  1), the weight of helium in the balloon is
=0.138  650g=90g

Therefore the weight of the balloon and helium =350g+90g=440g

The excess of the buoyant force over the force of gravity=650g - 440g=210g
Therefore if an unbalanced force of 10g is left available to produce upward acceleration, the weight of the
instrument load can be 200g.

Floating at the surface of liquids

According to Archimedes’ principle, if a liquid is displaced by a solid, the liquid exerts a buoyant force on the solid.
This is true for any fraction of the solid that displaces liquid eg when a boy is lifting a stone out of water, he does
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©Justus Simiyu 2014 [email protected] Physics Department University of Nairobi

not have to support the full weight of the stone until it is completely clear of the water. When half of the stone’s
volume is submerged, the buoyant force is half of the buoyant force when it is completely submerged. Suppose that
an object is placed in a liquid of density greater than that of the object. The buoyant force of the liquid will equal the
force of gravity before the solid is completely submerged. To go beyond this point of equilibrium, requires then an
extra downward force to be applied. If it is not, the object remains in equilibrium under the action of balanced
forces: it floats. When an object that will float is placed into a liquid, it will sink into the liquid until the weight that
it displaces is equal to its own weight. This relation, a direct consequence of Archimedes’ principle, is sometimes
called the law of flotation.

Example A block of wood weighing 120g has a volume of 180cm3. What fraction of its volume would be
submerged when floating in alcohol of density 0.80gcm-3?

Solution For the block to float, it must displace 120g of alcohol. The volume of 120g of
120 g
alcohol=  150cm 3
0.80 gcm 3
To displace 150cm3 of alcohol, the block will have to have 150cm3 of its volume submerged.

150 5
The fraction submerged  
180 6
Archimedes’ principle provides the basis for the design of ships made of steel. For a steel vessel to float it is only
necessary to spread the steel around so that it can displace an amount of water having a weight that exceeds the
weight of the steel.

Example A steel box is constructed to make a cube 10cm on a side, from material 0.20cm thick. What weight of
contents is possible before the box sinks in a liquid of specific gravity 1.2? The density of steel is 7.0gcm-3

Solution The volume of the box is (10cm)3=1000cm3

The maximum buoyant force that the liquid can provide is 1000cm 3  1.2  1.0 gcm 3  1200 g

The weight of the box which has 6 sides, each 10cm square and 0.2cm thick, and which is made of steel of density
7gcm-3 is
 6  10cm  10cm  0.2cm  7 gcm 3  840 g
The excess of buoyant force over weight is
1200 g  840 g  360 g
If material is added to the box, it will continue to float until the weight of the contents exceeds 3.6  102g.

Hydrometers
The relation between fluid density and floating provides basis for the construction and use of hydrometers.
Hydrometers usually consist of a hollow tube weighted at one end and having a graduated scale at the other end. In a
liquid, the weighted end ensures that the instrument floats upright. The depth to which it sinks will depend on the
density of the fluid. The higher the density of the liquid, the greater will be its buoyant force per unit volume of the
hydrometer immersed. When the scale is graduated using liquids of known density, the hydrometer may be used to
measure the density of unknown liquids. A number of specialized hydrometers are used for the determination of
specific gravity: in dairies for milk, in automobile service stations for antifreeze and battery acids, in chemical
laboratories for determining the composition of aqueous solutions (in a 12.5% sugar solution at 13oC, a hydrometer
would indicate a specific gravity of 1.05).

Fluids in motion
A stream / river flows slowly when it runs through open country and faster through narrow openings or constrictions
This is due to the fact that water is practically an incompressible fluid ie changes of pressure cause practically no
change in fluid density at various parts. Figure below shows a tube of water flowing steadily between X and Y

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©Justus Simiyu 2014 [email protected] Physics Department University of Nairobi

where X has a bigger cross-sectional area A1 than the party of cross-sectional area A2. The streamlines of the flow
represent the directions of the velocities of the particles of the fluid and the flow is uniform or laminar.

l1

A2
S

A1 Q l2

R
P

Assuming the liquid is incompressible, then if it moves from PQ to RS, the volume of liquid between P and R is
equal to the volume between Q and S. Thus
l2 A
A1l1  A2 l 2   1
l1 A2
where l1 is PR and l 2 is QS. Hence l 2 is greater than l1 . Consequently the velocity of the liquid at the narrow part of
the tube, where the streamlines are closer together, is greater than at the wider part Y where the streamlines are
further apart. For the same reason, slow-running water from a tap can be made into a fast jet by placing a finger over
the tap to narrow the exit.

Bernoulli’s principle
Bernoulli obtained a relation between the pressure and velocity at different parts of a moving incompressible fluid.
If viscosity is negligibly small, there are no frictional forces to overcome. Hence the work done by the pressure
difference per unit volume of a fluid flowing a long a pipe steadily is equal to the gain in kinetic energy per unit
volume plus the gain in potential energy per unit volume. The work done by a pressure in moving a fluid through a
distance=force  distance moved=pressure  area  distance moved=pressure  volume.
At the beginning of the pipe where the pressure is P1, the work done per unit volume on the fluid is P1; at the other
end the work done per unit volume is P2 . Hence the net work done on the fluid per unit volume =P1-P2. The kinetic
1 1
energy per unit volume= mass per unit  velocity2 = ρ  velocity2 where ρ is the density of the fluid. Thus if v2
2 2
and v1 are the final and initial velocities respectively at the end and the beginning of the pipe, the the kinetic energy
1
gained per unit volume=  (v 2 2  v1 2 ) .
2
Further, if h2 and h1 are the respective heights measured from a fixed level at the end and beginning of the pipe, the
potential energy gained per unit volume =mass per unit volume  g  h2  h1  = g h2  h1  .
Thus from the conservation of energy
1
P1  P2   (v 2 2  v1 2 )  g (h2  h1 )
2
1 2 1 2
P1  v1  gh1  p 2  v 2  gh2
2 2
Therefore
1 2
P v  gh  Constant
2
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©Justus Simiyu 2014 [email protected] Physics Department University of Nairobi

where P is the pressure at any part and v is the velocity there. Hence, for streamline motion of an incompressible
non-viscous fluid,
The sum of the pressure at any part plus the kinetic energy per unit volume plus the potential energy
per unit volume there is always a constant.
This is known as Bernoulli’s principle. The principle shows that at points in a moving fluid where the potential
energy change gh is very small, or zero as in flows through a horizontal pipe, the pressure is low where the
velocity is high; conversely, the pressure is high where the velocity is low.

Example As a numerical illustration, suppose the area of cross-section A1 of X in the figure above is 4cm2, the area
A2 of Y is 1cm2 and water flows past each section in laminar flow at the rate of 400cm3s-1, then

volumeper sec ond 400cm 3 s 1

at X speed v1 of water=   100cms 1  1ms 1
area 4cm 2
400cm 3 s 1
at Y speed v2 of water= 400cms 1  4ms 1
1cm 2
3
The density of water   1000kgm . So if P is the pressure difference, then
1 1
2
 2 2

P   v 2  v1   1000  4 2  12   7.5  10 3 Nm 2
2
P 7.5  10 3
Therefore P  hg  h    0.77m
g 1000  9.8
The pressure head is thus equivalent to 0.77m of water.

Applications of Bernoulli’s principle

1. A suction effect is experienced by a person standing close to the platform at a station when a fast train passes.
The fast-moving air between the person and the train produces a decrease in pressure and excess air pressure on the
other side pushes the person towards the train.
2. Filter pump. A filter pump has a narrow section in the middle, so that a jet of water from the tap flows faster
here. This causes a drop in pressure near it and air therefore flows in from the side tube to which a vessel is
connected. The air and water together are expelled through the bottom of the filter pump.
3. Aerofoil lift. The curved shape of an aerofoil creates a faster flow of air over its top surface than the lower one.
This is shown by the closeness of the streamlines above the aerofoil compared with those below. From Bernoulli’s
principle, the pressure of the air below is greater than that above, and this produces the lift on the aerofoil.
4. Flow of a liquid from wide tank. Consider the figure below. At the top X of the liquid in the tank, the pressure is
atmospheric say B, the height measured from a fixed level such as the hole H is h, and the kinetic energy is
negligible if the tank is wide so that the level falls very slowly. At the bottom, Y near H, the pressure is again B, the
1 2
height is zero and the kinetic energy is v where  is the density and v is the velocity of emergence of the liquid.
2
Thus from Bernoulli’s principle,
1 2
B  gh  B  v  v  2 gh
2
Thus the velocity of the emerging liquid is the same as that which would be obtained if it fell through a height h and
this is Torricelli’s theorem. In practice the velocity is less than that given by 2 gh owing to viscous forces and the
lack of streamline flow.
2 3 1
Example Water flows steadily a long a horizontal pipe at a volume rate of 8  10 m s . If the area of cross-
section of the pipe is 40cm2, calculate the flow velocity of the water. Find the total pressure in the pipe if the static
4
pressure in the horizontal pipe is 3.0  10 Pa , assuming the water is incompressible, non-viscous and its density is
4
1000kgm-3. What is the new flow velocity if the total pressure is 3.6  10 Pa .

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 volumeper sec ond 8  10 3
i Velocity of water=   2ms 1
area 40  10  4
1 2 4 1000  2 2
ii Total pressure=static pressure  v  3.0  10   3.2  10 4 Pa
2 2
1 2
iii v  total pressure- static pressure
2
1 2 4 4 4
Therefore  1000  v  3.6  10  3.0  10  0.6  10
2
0.6  10 4
v  3.5ms 1 .
500
Elastic Properties of Matter
A perfect rigid body has constant distance between two particles (not true in practice), i.e most bodies get
deformed under an applied force and the body has a tendency to regain its original size and shape when the
force is removed. This property of the body that tends to regain its shape or size when deforming forces are
removed is called elasticity. A perfectly elastic body retains its original shape/size very quickly, while if it
regains slowly then it is called a perfectly plastic body. Solids tend to resist change of both shape and
volume and hence they posses rigidity or shear elasticity as well as volume elasticity. Liquids on the other
hand tend to resist change in volume and not shape (they posses only volume elasticity).

Stress
When a body experiences a deforming external force, different particles in it are displaced, and they try to
occupy their original positions. This restoring force per unit area taking place inside the body is called the
stress. As long as there is no permanent change in shape or volume of the body, the restoring force is
always equal to the applied force.

mathematically Stress  F / a where a is the cross sectional area of the body.

Strain
When an external force acts on a body, it displaces various particles and the body is said to be under strain.
Usually defined as the ration of change in length, volume or shape to the original length, volume or shape.

Hooke’s Law
The relationship between stress and strain.
stress
 E (const )
strain
E is the coefficient of elasticity or modulus of elasticity (value depends on the nature of the material.

Graphical representation fo this relationship is shown below.

stress
Plastic
range
Elastic
limit

strain
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©Justus Simiyu 2014 [email protected] Physics Department University of Nairobi

From the graph, hooke’s is only valid in the region below the elastic limit, beyond which the body has un-
proportional variation in strain and stress (the change in stress leads to a rapid change in strain).

Young’s Modulus
This is the ratio of stress to longitudinal strain within the elastic limits.
Consider a wire of length L and let it change by l under an applied force F acting on a cross sectional area
a. From this, longitudinal strain is l/L and stress is F/a.
Therefore Young’s modulus of Elasticity will be
stress F / a FL
Y   [N/m2]
strain l / L al
Bulk Modulus
This is the ratio between stress and volumetric strain. If a force is applied normally over a surface of a body
and it changes only in volume takes place, then the strain caused here is volumetric strain. It is measured by
change in volume per unit volume (v/V).

F / a FV
i.e 
v /V av
Viscosity
Viscosity is a property by which a liquid opposes relative motion between its different layers. Liquids like
kerosene, alcohol, water, etc flow easily while others like tar, glycerin, etc, flow with difficulty and are
called viscous.

Coefficient of viscosity
Consider a layer AB of a liquid moving with velocity v w.r.t. a parallel layer CD which is at a distance r
from it. Consider also that the force required to produce the motion be F acting on an area A and this force
is acting along the direction AB (i.e in the direction of motion). An equal force will act in the opposite
direction due to viscosity and it will depend on the following:
i. F α –v
ii. FαA
iii. F α 1/r

Combining the three we have

v
F  A
r
Where η is the coefficient of viscosity and it depends on the nature of the liquid.
If the two layers are very close to each other, then
dv
F  A
dr
Where dv/dr is the velocity gradient. If A = 1cm2 and dv/dr = 1 then
F = η which gives the definition of coefficient of viscosity as the tangential force per unit area required to
maintain a unit velocity gradient.

If F = 1 then η = 1 and the unit is Poise.

Stokes Law
If a body falls through a fluid (liquid or gas) then it carries along with it a layer of the fluid in contact and
hence it will tend to produce some relative motion between the layers of the fluid. This relative motion is
opposed by forces of viscosity and the opposing force increases as the velocity of the body increases. If the
body if small enough, then the opposing force becomes equal to the driving force that produces the motion.
At that instance then the body moves with constant velocity known as terminal velocity.

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©Justus Simiyu 2014 [email protected] Physics Department University of Nairobi

 Consider a small sphere falling through a viscous medium, then the opposing force is directly proportional
to the velocity of the sphere and depends on
i. coefficient of viscosity of the medium
ii. radius of the sphere
iii. density of the medium

combining the three we have

F  k .v. r
Where k is a constant (calculated and found to be 6π).

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 5. WAVE MOTION
Wave motion is a form of disturbance that travels through the medium due to the repeated periodic motion
of particles of the medium about their mean positions. This disturbance is transferred from one particle to
the next, e.g water waves, sound. This also involves the transfer of energy from one point to the other.

Characteristics of a wave
1. It’s a disturbance produced in the medium by repeated periodic motion of the particles of the
medium.
2. The wave travels forward while particles of the medium vibrate about their mean positions
3. there is a regular phase change between various particles of the medium
4. Velocity of the wave is different from the velocity with which the particles of the medium are
vibrating about their mean positions.
Types of wave motion
1. transverse wave: particles of the medium vibrate about their mean positions in the direction
perpendicular to the direction of propagation, e.g. light waves, water waves etc
2. Longitudinal: particles of the medium vibrate about their mean position in the direction of the
wave, e.g sound wave

General wave equation

Since wave motion involves vibration of particles about the mean position, they are also a SHM type of
wave motion. The displacement of a particle P in SHM is given by
y  a sin t
Suppose another particle Q is at a distance x from P and the wave is traveling with velocity v in positive x
direction (Fig below).

P
a

Then the displacement of the particle Q will be given by

y  a sin(t   ) (*)
Where φ is the phase difference between the particles P and Q. The phase difference corresponding to the
path difference (wavelength, λ) is 2π, which leads to the relation
2 

 x
Where x is the path difference between P & Q. Hence the phase difference φ between P and Q is
2x
 and

Angular frequency ω is
2 2v
  2f  
T 

Hence equation (*) becomes

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©Justus Simiyu 2014 [email protected] Physics Department University of Nairobi

 2v 2x
y  a sin( t ) (**)
 

Or 2
y  a sin (vt  x) (***)


This is the general wave equation for a traveling wave in positive x direction with velocity v.

Differential form of general wave equation

The general wave equation can also be represented in differential form. Differentiating the equation (***)
w.r.t. t gives

dy 2av 2
 cos (vt  x) (a)
dt  
Further differentiation of equation (a) w.r.t. t gives
2
d2y  2av  2
2
   sin (vt  x) (b)
dt    
To get the compression of the wave (in x space), we differentiate equation (**) w.r.t. x, i.e.
dy 2a 2
 cos (vt  x ) (c)
dx  
Further differentiation of equation (c) w.r.t. x will give the compression in terms of distance (in x-
direction), i.e
2
d2y  2a  2
2
   sin (vt  x) (d)
dx    
Comparing equations (a) and (c) we see that

dy 1 dy

dx v dt
And from (b) and (d) we have

d2y 1 d2y

dx 2 v 2 dt 2

Which represents the differential form of a wave equation.

Particle velocity of a wave

If the velocity of a particle is denoted by u then
dy 2av 2
u  cos (vt  x)
dt  
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©Justus Simiyu 2014 [email protected] Physics Department University of Nairobi

 2a
And umax  v , which implies that

Maximum particle velocity is 2πa/λ times the wave velocity (v).

Likewise maximum particle acceleration is given by

2
 2v 
f max    a (show this)
  
Distribution of velocity & Pressure in a wave
If a wave is progressive (i.e, new waves are continuously formed) then there is a continuous transfer of
energy in the direction of propagation of the wave.

Remember particle velocity is given by

dy 2av 2
u  cos (vt  x)
dt  
The strain in the medium is given by dy/dx, i.e, if it is positive, it represents a region of rarefaction and
when negative, represents region of compression. For such a medium, the modulus of elasticity is given by
change in pressure  dP
K 
volume strain (dy / dx)

 dy 
And dP  K .  
 dx 
Implying that dP is positive in regions of compression and –ve in rarefaction region

u
2πav/λ
T

dP C R C

Po
T

Interference
When two sound waves are moving along a straight line in a medium, then every particle of the medium is
simultaneously acted upon by both of the waves. If the two waves arrive at a point in phase (two crests or
two troughs) superimpose and the resultant amplitude is equal to the sum of the respective waves (this is
the principle of superposition). If the waves arrive at a point when they are completely out of phase (a crest
of one falls over the trough of another, then the resultant amplitude is equal to the difference of the
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©Justus Simiyu 2014 [email protected] Physics Department University of Nairobi

individual amplitudes. This implies that at points where the two waves meet in phase will give maximum
amplitude (hence maximum sound intensity) while where they meet out of phase gives minimum amplitude
(minimum sound intensity). The phenomenon described above is called interference.

combined

Wave 1

Wave 1
(a) (b)

Fig. (a) constructive and (b) destructive interference

Let two waves having amplitudes a1 and a2 be represented by equations

2
y1  a1 sin (vt  x)

and
 2 
y2  a2 sin  (vt  x)   
 
Where φ is the phase difference between the two waves after some time. The resultant displacement will be

2  2 
Y  y1  y2  a1 sin (vt  x)  a2 sin  (vt  x)   
  
2  2   2 
 a1 sin (vt  x)  a2 sin (vt  x) cos   a2 cos (vt  x) sin 
      
2 2
 sin (vt  x)a1  a2 cos    cos (vt  x)a2 sin  
 
(using the trig identity Sin (A + B) = Sin A cos B + sin B cos A)

Letting a1 + a2cos φ = A cos θ, a2sin φ = A sin θ and using trigonometric identities leads to
2 2
Y  A cos sin (vt  x)  A sin  cos (vt  x)
 

 2 
Y  A sin  (vt  x)   
 
This shows that the resultant wave has the same frequency but a different amplitude and phase from the
component wave trains.

Special cases:
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©Justus Simiyu 2014 [email protected] Physics Department University of Nairobi

 1. when φ = 0, A = a1 + a2 and hence tan θ = 0 showing that the resultant is in phase with the
component
2. when φ = 180o, A = a1 – a2

From 1 and 2 above, it implies that when the phase difference between two waves is zero the two
waves reinforce each other. This also implies that the resultant has the same period and its amplitude is
the sum of the amplitudes of the component waves. However, if the two waves have a phase difference
of 180o, they destroy each other and the resultant amplitude is the difference between the amplitudes of
the component waves.

Conditions for interference of sound waves

1. the two wave trains must move in the same direction.
2. The two sources must give waves of same frequency and amplitude so that the positions of
maxima and minima are distinct
3. the two sources must be in phase, i.e must be coherent source

Beats
When two waves of nearly same frequency travel along a straight line in the same direction, the resultant
displacement at a point varies in amplitude alternately. At any position, the amplitude of the wave pulsates.
This will be perceived as alternately soft and loud sound.

The frequency at which the amplitude pulsates is called the beat frequency and it is mathematically given
by
fbeat  f 2  f1

The phenomena of beats is used in tuning of musical instruments, e.g to bring two flutes in tune, musicians
listen to beats and through trial and error, adjust one of the flutes to reduce the beat frequency.

Standing waves
If two waves of the same amplitude traveling in the opposite directions superpose each other, they generate
a standing wave. (Fig below)

These two waves are alternately in and out of phase and at regions of the waves being in phase, the
resultant is the sum of the waves with twice their amplitudes (anti-node points). The two waves cancel out
at points where they are out of phase forming nodes.
The frequency of the standing wave is the same as the frequency of the underlying traveling waves.
Examples are waves in a string that has fixed points at the ends. For the case as for the string with fixed
ends, the condition for standing wave is that the wave must be zero at the end points all the times. Suppose
the string has a length L, then the lowest possible standing wave to form is half wavelength (fundamental
mode), the nest possible one is one complete wavelength (known as the first overtone) and so on. This
implies that for the modes (where waves form nodes at the ends) some number of half wavelength exactly
fits the length of the string. This can be expressed mathematically as

2L
n 
n
Where λ is the wavelength, n is the number multiple and L is the length.
The frequency of the standing wave is also found generally as
nv
fn 
2L
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©Justus Simiyu 2014 [email protected] Physics Department University of Nairobi

With f1 known as the fundamental frequency and the following ones as overtones.

Doppler Effect
This is the apparent change in frequency due to relative motion between the source and the observer. Give
examples. This originates from the reasoning that the standard speed of sound in air found to be 331m/s is
measured in a reference from at rest in air. However if the frame of reference is moving in air, the speed
will be larger or smaller, depending on the direction of motion of the reference frame. That is, an observer
will detect a higher frequency when approaching the source and a lower one when receding. There are
several cases where this occurs and we will explore each at a time.

Case 1: observer moving towards stationary source

Let the frequency of a source be f and the observer moving at velocity vo and the velocity of sound be v.
The observer encounters more wave fronts per second than when stationary.

In general the relationship between frequency, speed and wavelength of a wave is given by
f v 

In the frame of reference of the observer, the apparent frequency will be

f '  v' 
Where v’ is the velocity of the sound received by the observer. The wavelengths in the two equations above are
same since the distance between crests does not depend on the frame of reference. Hence

f ' v'

f v
The speed of sound will then be v’ = v + vo and therefore the apparent frequency heard by the observer will be

 v  vo 
f ' f  
 v 
In general
 v 
f '  f 1  o 
 v
Where + is for approaching observer and negative for receding observer.

Case 2: Source moving and observer stationary

Apparent frequency is given by

 1 
f '  f  
 1  vs v 
Where + is for approaching source and – for receding source.

Other cases are governed in the following general equation

 v  vo 
f '  f  
 v  vs 
vo is velocity of observer
vs is velocity of source
v is velocity of sound

with the following conditions applying on the above general equation.

1. if observer moving towards stationary source, add vo to v
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©Justus Simiyu 2014 [email protected] Physics Department University of Nairobi

 2. if observer is moving away from source, subtract vo from v
3. if source is moving towards the observer, subtract vs from v
4. if source is moving away from observer, add vs to v

Suppose both are moving in either direction, what would be the relationship?

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 III
THERMAL PROPERTIES OF MATERIALS

Chapter 7: Introduction to Thermodynamics

7.1 Temperature and the Zeroth Law of Thermodynamics

To understand the concept of temperature, it is useful to define two often-used phrases:
thermal contact and thermal equilibrium. If the objects are at different temperatures,
energy is exchanged between them, even if they are initially not in physical contact with
each other. For purposes of the current discussion, we assume that two objects are in
thermal contact with each other if energy can be exchanged between them by these
processes due to a temperature difference.

Thermal equilibrium is a situation in which two objects would not exchange energy by
heat or electromagnetic radiation if they were placed in thermal contact. Consider two
objects A and B, which are not in thermal contact, and a third object C, which is a
thermometer. We wish to determine whether A and B are in thermal equilibrium with
each other. The thermometer (object C) is first placed in thermal contact with object A
until thermal equilibrium is reached. From that moment on, the thermometer’s reading
remains constant, and this reading is recorded. The thermometer is then removed from
object A and placed in thermal contact with object B. The reading is again recorded after
thermal equilibrium is reached. If the two readings are the same, then object A and object
B are in thermal equilibrium with each other. If A & B are placed in contact with each
other, there is no exchange of energy between them. This is the zeroth law of
thermodynamics (the law of equilibrium):

If objects A and B are separately in thermal equilibrium with a third object C, then A
and B are in thermal equilibrium with each other.

Which means that two objects in thermal equilibrium with each other are at the same
temperature. Conversely, if two objects have different temperatures, then they are not in
thermal equilibrium with each other.

A thermometer is the device used to measure temperature. There are different types of
thermometers that are in use today, i.e. liquid thermometers (alcohol, mercury, etc),
constant volume gas thermometers, infrared thermometers and thermocouples.

Thermal Expansion of Solids and Liquids

A liquid thermometer is an example of application of one of the best-known changes in a
substance: as its temperature increases, its volume increases. This phenomenon, known as
thermal expansion, has an important role in numerous engineering applications. For
example, thermal-expansion joints must be included in buildings, concrete highways,
railroad tracks, brick walls, and bridges to compensate for dimensional changes that
occur as the temperature changes. Thermal expansion is a consequence of the change in
the average separation between the atoms in an object. At ordinary temperatures, the
atoms in a solid oscillate about their equilibrium positions with amplitude of
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approximately 10-11 m and a frequency of approximately 1013 Hz. The average spacing
between the atoms is about 10-10 m. As the temperature of the solid increases, the atoms
oscillate with greater amplitudes; as a result, the average separation between them
increases. Consequently, the object expands. If thermal expansion is sufficiently small
relative to an object’s initial dimensions, the change in any dimension is, to a good
approximation, proportional to the first power of the temperature change.

Suppose that an object has an initial length Li along some direction at some temperature
and that the length increases by an amount ΔL for a change in temperature ΔT. Because it
is convenient to consider the fractional change in length per degree of temperature
change, we define the average coefficient of linear expansion as

L Li
 7.01
T
Which gives

L   L i T 7.02
α is unique to different materials as listed in the table 7.1.

Table 7.1: Average Coefficients of expansion of some materials

Because the linear dimensions of an object change with temperature, it follows that
surface area and volume change as well. The change in volume is proportional to the
initial volume Vi and to the change in temperature according to the relationship

ΔV= βViΔT 7.03

where β is the average coefficient of volume expansion. For a solid, the average
coefficient of volume expansion is three times the average linear expansion coefficient:
β=3α 7.04

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This assumes that the average coefficient of linear expansion of the solid is the same in
all directions—that is, the material is isotropic.)

Macroscopic Description of an Ideal Gas

The volume expansion equation 7.03 is based on the assumption that the material has an
initial volume Vi before the temperature change occurs. This is the case for solids and
liquids because they have a fixed volume at a given temperature. The case for gases is
completely different. The interatomic forces within gases are very weak, and, in many
cases, we can imagine these forces to be nonexistent and still make very good
approximations. Note that there is no equilibrium separation for the atoms and, thus, no
“standard” volume at a given temperature. As a result, we cannot express changes in
volume ΔV in a process on a gas with the above equation because there is no defined
volume Vi at the beginning of the process. For a gas, the volume is entirely determined by
the container holding the gas. Thus, equations involving gases will contain the volume V
as a variable, rather than focusing on a change in the volume from an initial value.

For a gas, it is useful to know how the quantities volume V, pressure P, and temperature T
are related for a sample of gas of mass m. In general, the equation that inter-relates these
quantities is called the equation of state. If the gas is maintained at a very low pressure
(or low density), the equation of state is quite simple and can be found experimentally.
Such a low-density gas is commonly referred to as an ideal gas.

It is convenient to express the amount of gas in a given volume in terms of the number of
moles n. One mole of any substance is that amount of the substance that contains
Avogadro’s number NA = 6.022 x1023 of constituent particles (atoms or molecules). The
number of moles n of a substance is related to its mass m through the expression
m
n 7.05
M
where M is the molar mass of the substance. The molar mass of each chemical element is
the atomic mass (from the periodic table).

Now suppose that an ideal gas is confined to a cylindrical container whose volume can be
varied by means of a movable piston. If it is assumed that the cylinder does not leak, the
mass (or the number of moles) of the gas remains constant. For such a system, when the
gas is kept at a constant temperature, its pressure is inversely proportional to its volume
(Boyle’s law). Second, when the pressure of the gas is kept constant, its volume is
directly proportional to its temperature (the law of Charles and Gay-Lussac). These
observations are summarized by the equation of state for an ideal gas:

PV  nRT 7.06

In this expression, known as the ideal gas law, R is a constant and n is the number of
moles of gas in the sample. Experiments on numerous gases show that as the pressure
approaches zero, the quantity PV/nT approaches the same value R for all gases. For this
reason, R is called the universal gas constant. In SI units, in which pressure is expressed

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in Pascal (1 Pa =1 N/m2) and volume in cubic meters, the product PV has units of
newton-meters, or joules, and R has the value

R = 8.314 J/mol.K

The ideal gas law states that if the volume and temperature of a fixed amount of gas do
not change, then the pressure also remains constant.

The ideal gas law is often expressed in terms of the total number of molecules N. Because
the total number of molecules equals the product of the number of moles n and
Avogadro’s number NA, ideal gas law can be written as
N
PV  nRT  RT
NA 7.08
PV  Nk B T
where kB is Boltzmann’s constant, which has the value

R
kB   1.38  10  23 J / K
NA

7.2 First Law of Thermodynamics

Heat and Internal Energy
It is important for one to clearly distinguish between internal energy and heat. Internal
energy is all the energy of a system that is associated with its microscopic components—
atoms and molecules—when viewed from a reference frame at rest with respect to the
center of mass of the system. The last part of this sentence ensures that any bulk kinetic
energy of the system due to its motion through space is not included in internal energy.
Internal energy includes kinetic energy of random translational, rotational, and
vibrational motion of molecules, potential energy within molecules, and potential energy
between molecules. It is useful to relate internal energy to the temperature of an object,
but this relationship is limited since internal energy changes can also occur in the absence
of temperature changes.

Heat is defined as the transfer of energy across the boundary of a system due to a
temperature difference between the system and its surroundings. When a substance is
heated, energy is being transferred into it by placing it in contact with surroundings that
have a higher temperature. The term heat is also used to represent the amount of energy
transferred by this method. As an analogy to the distinction between heat and internal
energy, consider the distinction between work and mechanical energy discussed in early
chapters. The work done on a system is a measure of the amount of energy transferred to
the system from its surroundings, whereas the mechanical energy of the system (kinetic
plus potential) is a consequence of the motion and configuration of the system.

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Both heat and work are ways of changing the energy of a system. It is also important to
recognize that the internal energy of a system can be changed even when no energy is
transferred by heat. For example, when a gas in an insulated container is compressed by a
piston, the temperature of the gas and its internal energy increase, but no transfer of
energy by heat from the surroundings to the gas has occurred. If the gas then expands
rapidly, it cools and its internal energy decreases, but no transfer of energy by heat from
it to the surroundings has taken place. The temperature changes in the gas are due not to a
difference in temperature between the gas and its surroundings but rather to the
compression and the expansion. In each case, energy is transferred to or from the gas by
work. The changes in internal energy in these examples are evidenced by corresponding
changes in the temperature of the gas. In this context, heat, work, and internal energy are
measured in joules

The Mechanical Equivalent of Heat

Experiments have shown that lost mechanical energy does not simply disappear but is
transformed into internal energy. Example, by hammering a nail into wood, some of the
kinetic energy of swinging the hammer will then be in the nail as internal energy, as
demonstrated by the fact that the nail is measurably warmer. Joule found that the loss in
mechanical energy is proportional to the increase in temperature ΔT. The proportionality
constant was found to be proximately 4.18 J/g.°C. Hence, 4.18 J of mechanical energy
raises the temperature of 1 g of water by 1°C. More precise measurements taken later
demonstrated the proportionality to be 4.186 J/g .°C when the temperature of the water
was raised from 14.5°C to 15.5°C.
1 Cal = 4.816J

Specific Heat and Calorimetry

When energy is added to a system and there is no change in the kinetic or potential
energy of the system, the temperature of the system usually rises. (An exception to this
statement is the case in which a system undergoes a change of state—also called a phase
transition—as discussed in the next section.) If the system consists of a sample of a
substance, we find that the quantity of energy required to raise the temperature of a given
mass of the substance by some amount varies from one substance to another. For
example, the quantity of energy required to raise the temperature of 1 kg of water by 1°C
is 4 186 J, but the quantity of energy required to raise the temperature of 1 kg of copper
by 1°C is only 387 J. The heat capacity C of a particular sample of a substance is defined
as the amount of energy needed to raise the temperature of that sample by 1°C. From this
definition, we see that if energy Q produces a change ΔT in the temperature of a sample,
then

Q= CΔT 7.09

The specific heat c of a substance is the heat capacity per unit mass. Thus, if energy Q
transfers to a sample of a substance with mass m and the temperature of the sample
changes by ΔT, then the specific heat of the substance is
Q
c 7.10
mT
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Specific heat is essentially a measure of how thermally insensitive a substance is to the
addition of energy. The greater a material’s specific heat, the more energy must be added
to a given mass of the material to cause a particular temperature change. From this
definition, we can relate the energy Q transferred between a sample of mass m of a
material and its surroundings to a temperature change ΔT as
Q= mCΔT 7.11

For example, the energy required to raise the temperature of 0.500 kg of water by 3.00°C
is (0.500 kg) (4 186 J/kg $ °C)(3.00°C) ! 6.28 % 103 J. Note that when the temperature
increases, Q and ΔT are taken to be positive, and energy transfers into the system. When
the temperature decreases, Q and ΔT are negative, and energy transfers out of the system.

Specific heat varies with temperature. However, if temperature intervals are not too great,
the temperature variation can be ignored and c can be treated as a constant. For example,
the specific heat of water varies by only about 1% from 0°C to 100°C at atmospheric
pressure. Unless stated otherwise, we shall neglect such variations are neglected.
Measured values of specific heats are found to depend on the conditions of the
experiment. In general, measurements made in a constant-pressure process are different
from those made in a constant-volume process. For solids and liquids, the difference
between the two values is usually no greater than a few percent and is often neglected.

Latent Heat
A substance often undergoes a change in temperature when energy is transferred between
it and its surroundings. There are situations, however, in which the transfer of energy
does not result in a change in temperature. This is the case whenever the physical
characteristics of the substance change from one form to another; such a change is
commonly referred to as a phase change. Two common phase changes are from solid to
liquid (melting) and from liquid to gas (boiling); another is a change in the crystalline
structure of a solid. All such phase changes involve a change in internal energy but no
change in temperature. The increase in internal energy in boiling, for example, is
represented by the breaking of bonds between molecules in the liquid state; this bond
breaking allows the molecules to move farther apart in the gaseous state, with a
corresponding increase in intermolecular potential energy.

As it is expected, different substances respond differently to the addition or removal of

energy as they change phase because their internal molecular arrangements vary. Also,
the amount of energy transferred during a phase change depends on the amount of
substance involved. (It takes less energy to melt an ice cube than it does to thaw a frozen
lake.) If a quantity Q of energy transfer is required to change the phase of a mass m of a
substance, the ratio L= Q/m characterizes an important thermal property of that
substance. Because this added or removed energy does not result in a temperature
change, the quantity L is called the latent heat (literally, the “hidden” heat) of the
substance. The value of L for a substance depends on the nature of the phase change, as
well as on the properties of the substance.

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From the definition of latent heat, and again choosing heat as our energy transfer
mechanism, we find that the energy required to change the phase of a given mass m of a
pure substance is

Q = ± mL 7.12

Latent heat of fusion Lf is the term used when the phase change is from solid to liquid (to
fuse means “to combine by melting”), and latent heat of vaporization Lv is the term used
when the phase change is from liquid to gas (the liquid “vaporizes”). The positive sign in
Equation 20.6 is used when energy enters a system, causing melting or vaporization. The
negative sign corresponds to energy leaving a system, such that the system freezes or
condenses.

7.3 Work and Heat in Thermodynamic Processes

In the macroscopic approach to thermodynamics, we describe the state of a system using
such variables as pressure, volume, temperature, and internal energy. As a result, these
quantities belong to a category called state variables. For any given configuration of the
system, we can identify values of the state variables. It is important to note that a
macroscopic state of an isolated system can be specified only if the system is in thermal
equilibrium internally. In the case of a gas in a container, internal thermal equilibrium
requires that every part of the gas be at the same pressure and temperature.

A second category of variables in situations involving energy is transfer variables. These

variables are zero unless a process occurs in which energy is transferred across the
boundary of the system. Because a transfer of energy across the boundary represents a
change in the system, transfer variables are not associated with a given state of the
system, but with a change in the state of the system. In the previous sections, we
discussed heat as a transfer variable. For a given set of conditions of a system, there is no
defined value for the heat. We can only assign a value of the heat if energy crosses the
boundary by heat, resulting in a change in the system. State variables are characteristic of
a system in thermal equilibrium. Transfer variables are characteristic of a process in
which energy is transferred between a system and its environment. In this section, we
study another important transfer variable for thermodynamic systems—work.

Consider a gas contained in a cylinder fitted with a movable piston (Figure 7.1).

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Figure 7.1: Demonstration of work being done on a gas contained in a cylinder at a
pressure P as the piston is pushed downward so that the gas is compressed.

At equilibrium, the gas occupies a volume V and exerts a uniform pressure P on the
cylinder’s walls and on the piston. If the piston has a cross-sectional area A, the force
exerted by the gas on the piston is F = PA. Now let us assume that we push the piston
inward and compress the gas quasi-statically, that is, slowly enough to allow the system
to remain essentially in thermal equilibrium at all times. As the piston is pushed
downward by an external force F = -Fˆj through a displacement of dr = dyˆj (Fig. 7.1 b),
the work done on the gas is,

dW  F  dr   Fˆj  dyˆj   Fdy   PAdy 7.13

where the magnitude F of the external force is equal to PA because the piston is always in
equilibrium between the external force and the force from the gas. For this discussion, we
assume the mass of the piston is negligible. Because Ady is the change in volume of the
gas dV, we can express the work done on the gas as

dW = - PdV 7.14

If the gas is compressed, dV is negative and the work done on the gas is positive. If the
gas expands, dV is positive and the work done on the gas is negative. If the volume
remains constant, the work done on the gas is zero. The total work done on the gas as its
volume changes from Vi to Vf is given by the integral of equation 7.14
Vf
W   PdV 7.15
Vi

To evaluate this integral, one must know how the pressure varies with volume during the
process. In general, the pressure is not constant during a process followed by a gas, but
depends on the volume and temperature. If the pressure and volume are known at each
step of the process, the state of the gas at each step can be plotted on a graph called a PV
diagram, as in Figure 7.2:

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Figure 7.2: PV graph showing compression of a gas quasi-statically (slowly) from state i
to state f. The work done on the gas equals the negative of the area under the PV curve.

This type of diagram allows us to visualize a process through which a gas is progressing.
The curve on a PV diagram is called the path taken between the initial and final states.
Note that the integral in the equation 7.15 is equal to the area under a curve on a PV
diagram. Thus, we can identify an important use for PV diagrams:

The work done on a gas in a quasi-static process that takes the gas from an initial state
to a final state is the negative of the area under the curve on a PV diagram, evaluated
between the initial and final states.

As the figure 7.2 suggests, for the process of compressing a gas in the cylinder, the work
done depends on the particular path taken between the initial and final states. To illustrate
this important point, consider several different paths connecting i and f (Fig. 7.3),

Fig 7.3: PV diagram showing the dependence of work done on a gas as it is taken from
an initial state to a final state on the path between the states.

In the process depicted in Figure 7.3a, the volume of the gas is first reduced from Vi to Vf
at constant pressure Pi and the pressure of the gas then increases from Pi to Pf by heating
at constant volume Vf . The work done on the gas along this path is -Pi(Vf - Vi). In Figure
7.3b, the pressure of the gas is increased from Pi to Pf at constant volume Vi and then the
volume of the gas is reduced from Vi to Vf at constant pressure Pf . The work done on the
gas is –Pf(Vf - Vi) which is greater than that for the process described in Figure 7.3a. It is
greater because the piston is moved through the same displacement by a larger force than
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for the situation in Figure 7.3a. Finally, for the process described in Figure 7.3c, where
both P and V change continuously, the work done on the gas has some value intermediate
between the values obtained in the first two processes. To evaluate the work in this case,
the function P(V ) must be known, so that we can evaluate the integral in Equation 7.15.

Vf
W   PdV 7.15
Vi

7.4 The First Law of Thermodynamics

It was earlier stated that the change in the energy of a system is equal to the sum of all
transfers of energy across the boundary of the system. The first law of thermodynamics is
a special case of the law of conservation of energy that encompasses changes in internal
energy and energy transfer by heat and work. It is a law that can be applied to many
processes and provides a connection between the microscopic and macroscopic worlds.
Two ways in which energy can be transferred between a system and its surroundings
have already been discussed. One is work done on the system, which requires that there
be a macroscopic displacement of the point of application of a force. The other is heat,
which occurs on a molecular level whenever a temperature difference exists across the
boundary of the system. Both mechanisms result in a change in the internal energy of the
system and therefore usually result in measurable changes in the macroscopic variables of
the system, such as the pressure, temperature, and volume of a gas.

To better understand these ideas on a quantitative basis, suppose that a system undergoes
a change from an initial state to a final state. During this change, energy transfer by heat
Q to the system occurs, and work W is done on the system. As an example, suppose that
the system is a gas in which the pressure and volume change from Pi and Vi to Pf and Vf.
If the quantity Q + W is measured for various paths connecting the initial and final
equilibrium states, we find that it is the same for all paths connecting the two states. We
conclude that the quantity Q + W is determined completely by the initial and final states
of the system, and we call this quantity the change in the internal energy of the system.
Although Q and W both depend on the path, the quantity Q + W is independent of the
path. If we use the symbol Eint to represent the internal energy, then the change in internal
energy ΔEint can be expressed as

ΔEint = Q + W 7.16

where all quantities must have the same units of measure for energy. The above equation
is known as the first law of thermodynamics. One of the important consequences of the
first law of thermodynamics is that there exists a quantity known as internal energy
whose value is determined by the state of the system. The internal energy is therefore a
state variable like pressure, volume, and temperature.

When a system undergoes an infinitesimal change in state in which a small amount of

energy dQ is transferred by heat and a small amount of work dW is done, the internal
energy changes by a small amount dEint. Thus, for infinitesimal processes we can express
the first law as
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©Justus Simiyu 2014 [email protected] Physics Department University of Nairobi

 dEint = dQ + dW 7.17

The first law of thermodynamics is an energy conservation equation specifying that the
only type of energy that changes in the system is the internal energy E int. Let us
investigate some special cases in which this condition exists. First, consider an isolated
system—that is, one that does not interact with its surroundings. In this case, no energy
transfer by heat takes place and the work done the system is zero; hence, the internal
energy remains constant. That is, because Q = W = 0, it follows that ΔE int = 0, and thus
Eint,i = Eint, f. We conclude that the internal energy Eint of an isolated system remains
constant. Next, consider the case of a system (one not isolated from its surroundings) that
is taken through a cyclic process—that is, a process that starts and ends at the same state.
In this case, the change in the internal energy must again be zero, because Eint is a state
variable, and therefore the energy Q added to the system must equal the negative of the
work W done on the system during the cycle. That is, in a cyclic process,

Eint = 0 and Q = - W (cyclic process) 7.18

On a PV diagram, a cyclic process appears as a closed curve. It can be shown that in a

cyclic process, the net work done on the system per cycle equals the area enclosed by the
path representing the process on a PV diagram.

Applications of the First Law of Thermodynamics

As a model, we consider the sample of gas contained in the piston–cylinder apparatus
(Figure 7.4).

Fig. 7.4: The first law of thermodynamics equates the change in internal energy Eint in a
system to the net energy transfer to the system by heat Q and work W. In the situation
shown here, the internal energy of the gas increases.

Figure 7.4 shows work being done on the gas and energy transferring in by heat, so the
internal energy of the gas is rising. In the following discussion of various processes, refer
back to this figure and mentally alter the directions of the transfer of energy so as to
reflect what is happening in the process.
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Definition:
An adiabatic process is one during which no energy enters or leaves the system by heat—
that is,

Q = 0. 7.19

An adiabatic process can be achieved either by thermally insulating the walls of the
system, such as the cylinder in Figure above or by performing the process rapidly, so that
there is negligible time for energy to transfer by heat. Applying the first law of
thermodynamics to an adiabatic process,

ΔEint = W 7.20

From this result, it is seen that if a gas is compressed adiabatically such that W is positive,
then ΔEint is positive and the temperature of the gas increases. Conversely, the
temperature of a gas decreases when the gas expands adiabatically. Adiabatic processes
are very important in engineering practice. Some common examples are the expansion of
hot gases in an internal combustion engine, the liquefaction of gases in a cooling system,
and the compression stroke in a diesel engine.

In adiabatic process, both Q = 0 and W = 0. As a result, ΔE int = 0 for this process, as can
be seen from the first law. That is, the initial and final internal energies of a gas are equal
in an adiabatic free expansion. As it will be shown in the next section, the internal energy
of an ideal gas depends only on its temperature. Thus, temperature is not expected to
change during an adiabatic free expansion.

A process that occurs at constant pressure is called an isobaric process. In the figure
above, an isobaric process could be established by allowing the piston to move freely so
that it is always in equilibrium between the net force from the gas pushing upward and
the weight of the piston plus the force due to atmospheric pressure pushing downward.
The work done on the gas in an isobaric process is simply

W = -P(Vf - Vi) 7.21

where P is the constant pressure.

A process that takes place at constant volume is called an isovolumetric process. In the
piston case (figure 7.4), clamping the piston at a fixed position would ensure an
isovolumetric process In such a process, the value of the work done is zero because the
volume does not change. Hence, from the first law we see that in an isovolumetric
process, because W = 0,

ΔEint = Q 7.22

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This expression specifies that if energy is added by heat to a system kept at constant
volume, then all of the transferred energy remains in the system as an increase in its
internal energy. For example, when a can of spray paint is thrown into a fire, energy
enters the system (the gas in the can) by heat through the metal walls of the can.
Consequently, the temperature, and thus the pressure, in the can increases until the can
possibly explodes.

A process that occurs at constant temperature is called an isothermal process. In the

figure on the previous page, this process can be established by immersing the cylinder in
an ice-water bath or by putting the cylinder in contact with some other constant-
temperature reservoir. A plot of P versus V at constant temperature for an ideal gas yields
a hyperbolic curve called an isotherm. The internal energy of an ideal gas is a function of
temperature only. Hence, in an isothermal process involving an ideal gas, ΔEint = 0.

For an isothermal process, then, we conclude from the first law that the energy transfer Q
must be equal to the negative of the work done on the gas—that is, Q = -W. Any energy
that enters the system by heat is transferred out of the system by work; as a result, no
change in the internal energy of the system occurs in an isothermal process.

Isothermal Expansion of an Ideal Gas

Suppose that an ideal gas is allowed to expand quasi-statically at constant temperature.
This process is described by the PV diagram shown in figure below. The curve is a
hyperbola, and the ideal gas law with T constant indicates that the equation of this curve
is PV = constant.

Fig 7.5: The PV diagram for an isothermal expansion of an ideal gas from an initial state
to a final state. The curve is a hyperbola.

The work done on the gas is given by

Vf
W   PdV 7.23
Vi

Because the gas is ideal and the process is quasi-static, we can use the expression PV =
nRT for each point on the path. Therefore, we have

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 Vf Vf nRT
W    PdV    dV 7.24
Vi Vi V
Because T is constant in this case, it can be removed from the integral along with n and
R:
V f dV Vf
W   nRT    nRT ln V 7.25
Vi V Vi
Which leads to
V 
W  nRT ln  i  7.26
V 
 f 
Numerically, this work W equals the negative of the shaded area under the PV curve
shown in the figure above. Because the gas expands, Vf > Vi and the value for the work
done on the gas is negative, as expected. If the gas is compressed, then Vf < Vi and the
work done on the gas is positive.

7.5 Energy Transfer Mechanisms

Thermal Conduction
The process of energy transfer by heat can also be called conduction or thermal
conduction. In this process, the transfer can be represented on an atomic scale as an
exchange of kinetic energy between microscopic particles—molecules, atoms, and free
electrons—in which less-energetic particles gain energy in collisions with more energetic
particles. The rate of thermal conduction depends on the properties of the substance being
heated. For example, it is possible to hold a piece of asbestos in a flame indefinitely. This
implies that very little energy is conducted through the asbestos. In general, metals are
good thermal conductors, and materials such as asbestos, cork, paper, and fiberglass are
poor conductors. Gases also are poor conductors because the separation distance between
the particles is so great. Metals are good thermal conductors because they contain large
numbers of electrons that are relatively free to move through the metal and so can
transport energy over large distances. Thus, in a good conductor, such as copper,
conduction takes place by means of both the vibration of atoms and the motion of free
electrons.

Conduction occurs only if there is a difference in temperature between two parts of the
conducting medium. Consider a slab of material of thickness Δx and cross-sectional area
A (Fig. 7.6).

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Fig 7.6: Energy transfer through a conducting slab with a cross-sectional area A and a
thickness Δx. The opposite faces are at different temperatures Tc and Th.

One face of the slab is at a temperature Tc, and the other face is at a temperature Th >Tc .
Experimentally, it is found that the energy Q transfers in a time interval Δt from the
hotter face to the colder one. The rate P = Q/Δt at which this energy transfer occurs is
found to be proportional to the cross-sectional area and the temperature difference ΔT =
Th - Tc , and inversely proportional to the thickness:
Q T
P  A 7.27
t x

Note that P has units of watts when Q is in joules and Δt is in seconds. For a slab of
infinitesimal thickness dx and temperature difference dT, we can write the law of thermal
conduction as

dT
P  kA 7.28
dx
where the proportionality constant k is the thermal conductivity of the material and |dT/dx
| is the temperature gradient (the rate at which temperature varies with position).

Substances that are good thermal conductors have large thermal conductivity values,
whereas good thermal insulators have low thermal conductivity values. (Check in the
book of Physical Constants from the First Year Physics Lab for different thermal
conductivities for common materials).

Radiation
The rate at which an object radiates energy is proportional to the fourth power of its
absolute temperature. This is known as Stefan’s law and is expressed in equation form as

P  AeT 4 7.29

where P is the power in watts radiated from the surface of the object,
σ is a constant equal to 5.6696 x 10-8 W/m2 .K4
A is the surface area of the object in square meters,
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e is the emissivity,
and T is the surface temperature in kelvins.

The value of e can vary between zero and unity, depending on the properties of the
surface of the object.

The emissivity is equal to the absorptivity, which is the fraction of the incoming radiation
that the surface absorbs. When an object is in equilibrium with its surroundings, it
radiates and absorbs energy at the same rate, and its temperature remains constant. When
an object is hotter than its surroundings, it radiates more energy than it absorbs, and its
temperature decreases.

An ideal absorber is defined as an object that absorbs the entire energy incident on it, and
for such an object, e = 1. An object for which e = 1 is often referred to as a black body.
An ideal absorber is also an ideal radiator of energy. In contrast, an object for which e = 0
absorbs none of the energy incident on it. Such an object reflects all the incident energy,
and thus is an ideal reflector.

Convection
Energy transferred by the movement of a warm substance is said to have been transferred
by convection. When the movement results from differences in density, as with air
around a fire, it is referred to as natural convection. Air flow at a beach is an example of
natural convection, as is the mixing that occurs as surface water in a lake cools and sinks.
When the heated substance is forced to move by a fan or pump, as in some hot-air and
hot-water heating systems, the process is called forced convection.

If it were not for convection currents, it would be very difficult to boil water. As water is
heated in a tea kettle, the lower layers are warmed first. This water expands and rises to
the top because its density is lowered. At the same time, the denser, cool water at the
surface sinks to the bottom of the kettle and is heated. The same process occurs when a
room is heated by a radiator. The hot radiator warms the air in the lower regions of the
room. The warm air expands and rises to the ceiling because of its lower density. The
denser, cooler air from above sinks.

7.6 Kinetic Theory of Gases

7.61 Molecular Model of an Ideal Gas
We begin by developing a microscopic model of an ideal gas. The model shows that the
pressure that a gas exerts on the walls of its container is a consequence of the collisions
of the gas molecules with the walls. In developing this model, we make the following
assumptions:
1. The number of molecules in the gas is large, and the average separation between them
is large compared with their dimensions. This means that the molecules occupy a
negligible volume in the container. This is consistent with the ideal gas model, in which
we imagine the molecules to be point-like.
2. The molecules obey Newton’s laws of motion, but as a whole they move randomly. By
“randomly” we mean that any molecule can move in any direction with any speed. At any
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given moment, a certain percentage of molecules move at high speeds, and a certain
percentage move at low speeds.
3. The molecules interact only by short-range forces during elastic collisions. This is
consistent with the ideal gas model, in which the molecules exert no long range forces on
each other.
4. The molecules make elastic collisions with the walls.
5. The gas under consideration is a pure substance; that is, all molecules are identical.
Although we often picture an ideal gas as consisting of single atoms, we can assume that
the behavior of molecular gases approximates that of ideal gases rather well at low
pressures. Molecular rotations or vibrations have no effect, on the average, on the
motions that we consider here.
For our first application of kinetic theory, let us derive an expression for the pressure of N
molecules of an ideal gas in a container of volume V in terms of microscopic quantities.
The container is a cube with edges of length d (Fig. below).

Fig 7.7: A cubical box with sides of length d containing an ideal gas. The molecule
shown moves with velocity vi .

We will combine the effects of all of the molecules shortly.) As the molecule collides
elastically with any wall (assumption 4), its velocity component perpendicular to the wall
is reversed because the mass of the wall is far greater than the mass of the molecule.
Because the momentum component pxi of the molecule is mvxi before the collision and -
mvxi after the collision, the change in the x component of the momentum of the molecule
is

Δpxi = -mvxi - (mvxi) = -2mvxi 7.30

Because the molecules obey Newton’s laws (assumption 2), we can apply the impulse
momentum theorem to the molecule to arrive at

7.31
Where Fi is the x component of the average force that the wall exerts on the molecule
during the collision and is the duration of the collision. In order for the molecule to make
another collision with the same wall after this first collision, it must travel a distance of
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2d in the x direction (across the container and back). Therefore, the time interval between
two collisions with the same wall is

7.32

The force that causes the change in momentum of the molecule in the collision with the
wall occurs only during the collision. However, we can average the force over the time
interval for the molecule to move across the cube and back. Sometime during this time
interval, the collision occurs, so that the change in momentum for this time interval is the
same as that for the short duration of the collision. Thus, we can rewrite the impulse-
momentum theorem as

7.33

where is the average force component over the time for the molecule to move across the
cube and back. Because exactly one collision occurs for each such time interval, this is
also the long-term average force on the molecule, over long time intervals containing any
number of multiples of Δt.

This equation and the preceding one enable us to express the x component of the long-
term average force exerted by the wall on the molecule as

7.34

Now, by Newton’s third law, the average x component of the force exerted by the
molecule on the wall is equal in magnitude and opposite in direction:

7.35

The total average force exerted by the gas on the wall is found by adding the average
forces exerted by the individual molecules. We add terms such as that above for all
molecules:

7.36

where we have factored out the length of the box and the mass m, because assumption 5
says that all of the molecules are the same. We now impose assumption 1, that the
number of molecules is large. For a small number of molecules, the actual force on the
wall would vary with time. It would be nonzero during the short interval of a collision of
a molecule with the wall and zero when no molecule happens to be hitting the wall. For a
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very large number of molecules, however, such as Avogadro’s number, these variations
in force are smoothed out, so that the average force given above is the same over any
time interval. Thus, the constant force F on the wall due to the molecular collisions is

7.37
Consider expressing the average value of the square of the x component of the velocity
for N molecules. The traditional average of a set of values is the sum of the values over
the number of values:

7.38

The numerator of this expression is contained in the right-hand side of the preceding
equation. Thus, combining the two expressions, the total force on the wall can be written

7.39

The Pythagoras theorem relates the square of the speed of the molecule to the squares of
the velocity components:

7.40

Hence, the average value of v2 for all the molecules in the container is related to the
average values of vx2, vy2 & vz2 according to the expression

7.41
Because the motion is completely random (assumption 2), the average values , and
are equal to each other. Using this fact and the preceding equation, we find that

7.42

7.43

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 7.44

This result indicates that the pressure of a gas is proportional to the number of molecules
per unit volume and to the average translational kinetic energy of the molecules, . In
analyzing this simplified model of an ideal gas, we obtain an important result that relates
the macroscopic quantity of pressure to a microscopic quantity— the average value of the
square of the molecular speed. Thus, we have established a key link between the
molecular world and the large-scale world. One way to increase the pressure inside a
container is to increase the number of molecules per unit volume N/V in the container.
This is what you do when you add air to a tire. The pressure in the tire can also be
increased by increasing the average translational kinetic energy of the air molecules in
the tire.

7.62 Molecular Interpretation of Temperature

Equation 7.44 can be further written in the form

7.45
Comparing this with the equation of state for an ideal gas:

PV = NkBT 7.46

Recall that the equation of state is based on experimental facts concerning the
macroscopic behavior of gases. Equating the right sides of these expressions, it is found
that

7.47

This result tells us that temperature is a direct measure of average molecular kinetic
energy. By rearranging Equation 7.47, the translational molecular kinetic energy can be
related to the temperature:

7.48

3
That is, the average translational kinetic energy per molecule is k B T .
2
1
Because v 2  v 2 , it follows that
3

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 7.49

In a similar manner, it follows that the motions in the y and z directions give us

7.50
1
Thus, each translational degree of freedom contributes an equal amount of energy, k BT
2
, to the gas. (In general, a “degree of freedom” refers to an independent means by which a
molecule can possess energy.) A generalization of this result, known as the theorem of
equipartition of energy, states that

Each degree of freedom contributes to the energy of a system, where possible degrees
of freedom in addition to those associated with translation arise from rotation and
vibration of molecules.

The total translational kinetic energy of N molecules of gas is simply N times the average
energy per molecule, which is given by Equation 7.48:

7.51

where we have used kB = R/NA for Boltzmann’s constant and n = N/NA for the number of
moles of gas. If we consider a gas in which molecules possess only translational kinetic
energy, Equation 7.51 represents the internal energy of the gas. This result implies that
the internal energy of an ideal gas depends only on the temperature.

The square root of is called the root-mean-square (rms) speed of the molecules. From
Equation 7.48 we find that the rms speed is

7.52

where M is the molar mass in kilograms per mole and is equal to mNA. This expression
shows that, at a given temperature, lighter molecules move faster, on the average, than do
heavier molecules. For example, at a given temperature, hydrogen molecules, whose
molar mass is 2.02 x 10-3 kg/mol, have an average speed approximately four times that of
oxygen molecules, whose molar mass is 32.0 x 10-3 kg/mol.

7.63 Molar Specific Heat of an Ideal Gas

Consider an ideal gas undergoing several processes such that the change in temperature is
ΔT = Tf - Ti for all processes. The temperature change can be achieved by taking a variety
of paths from one isotherm to another, as shown in Figure 7.8:
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Fig. 7.8: An ideal gas is taken from one isotherm at temperature T to another at
temperature T +ΔT along three different paths.

Because ΔT is the same for each path, the change in internal energy ΔEint is the same for
all paths. However, we know from the first law, Q = Δ Eint - W, that the heat Q is
different for each path because W (the negative of the area under the curves) is different
for each path. Thus, the heat associated with a given change in temperature does not have
a unique value.

This difficulty can be addressed by defining specific heats for two processes that
frequently occur: changes at constant volume and changes at constant pressure. Because
the number of moles is a convenient measure of the amount of gas, we define the molar
specific heats associated with these processes with the following equations:

7.53

where CV is the molar specific heat at constant volume and CP is the molar specific heat
at constant pressure. When we add energy to a gas by heat at constant pressure, not only
does the internal energy of the gas increase, but work is done on the gas because of the
change in volume. Therefore, the heat QP const must account for both the increase in
internal energy and the transfer of energy out of the system by work. For this reason, QP
const is greater than QV const for given values of n and ΔT. Thus, CP is greater than CV.

In the previous section, we found that the temperature of a gas is a measure of the
average translational kinetic energy of the gas molecules. This kinetic energy is
associated with the motion of the center of mass of each molecule. It does not include the
energy associated with the internal motion of the molecule—namely, vibrations and
rotations about the center of mass. This should not be surprising because the simple
kinetic theory model assumes a structureless molecule.

In view of this, let us first consider the simplest case of an ideal monatomic gas, that is, a
gas containing one atom per molecule, such as helium, neon, or argon. When energy is
added to a monatomic gas in a container of fixed volume, all of the added energy goes
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into increasing the translational kinetic energy of the atoms. There is no other way to
store the energy in a monatomic gas. Therefore, from Equation 21.6, we see that the
internal energy Eint of N molecules (or n mol) of an ideal monatomic gas is

7.54

Note that for a monatomic ideal gas, Eint is a function of T only, and the functional
relationship is given by Equation 7.54. In general, the internal energy of an ideal gas is a
function of T only, and the exact relationship depends on the type of gas.

If energy is transferred by heat to a system at constant volume, then no work is done on

the system. That is, for a constant-volume process. Hence, from the first law of
thermodynamics, we see that
7.55
In other words, all of the energy transferred by heat goes into increasing the internal
energy of the system. A constant-volume process from i to f for an ideal gas is described
in Figure 7.9, where ΔT is the temperature difference between the two isotherms.

Fig. 7.9: Energy is transferred by heat to an ideal gas in two ways. For the constant-
volume path i → f, all the energy goes into increasing the internal energy of the gas
because no work is done. Along the constant-pressure path i→f ', part of the energy
transferred in by heat is transferred out by work.

Substituting the expression for Q given by Equation 7.53a into Equation 7.55, we obtain

7.56
If the molar specific heat is constant, we can express the internal energy of a gas as

Eint = nCVT 7.57

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This equation applies to all ideal gases—to gases having more than one atom per
molecule as well as to monatomic ideal gases. In the limit of infinitesimal changes,
Equation 7.56 can be used to express the molar specific heat at constant volume as

7.58

Let us now apply the results of this discussion to the monatomic gas that we have been
studying. Substituting the internal energy from Equation 7.54 into Equation 7.58, we find
that

7.59

This expression predicts a value of

CV = 3/2R = 12.5 J/mol.K 7.60

for all monatomic gases.

This prediction is in excellent agreement with measured values of molar specific heats for
such gases as helium, neon, argon, and xenon over a wide range of temperatures. Small
variations between the actual and the predicted values are due to the fact that real gases
are not ideal gases. In real gases, weak intermolecular interactions occur, which are not
addressed in our ideal gas model.

Now suppose that the gas is taken along the constant-pressure path i → f ' shown in
Figure 7.9. Along this path, the temperature again increases by ΔT. The energy that must
be transferred by heat to the gas in this process is Q = nCPΔT. Because the volume
changes in this process, the work done on the gas is W = -P ΔV where P is the constant
pressure at which the process occurs. Applying the first law of thermodynamics to this
process, we have

7.61

In this case, the energy added to the gas by heat is channeled as follows: Part of it leaves
the system by work (that is, the gas moves a piston through a displacement), and the
remainder appears as an increase in the internal energy of the gas. But the change in
internal energy for the process i → f ' is equal to that for the process i → f because Eint
depends only on temperature for an ideal gas and because "T is the same for both
processes. In addition, because PV = nRT, we note that for a constant-pressure process,
PΔV = nR ΔT. Substituting this value for PΔV into Equation 7.61 with ΔEint = nCV ΔT
(Eq. 7.56) gives

7.62

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This expression applies to any ideal gas. It predicts that the molar specific heat of an ideal
gas at constant pressure is greater than the molar specific heat at constant volume by an
amount R, the universal gas constant (which has the value 8.31 J/mol. K). This expression
is applicable to real gases.
Because CV = R for a monatomic ideal gas, Equation 7.62 predicts a value CP = R =
20.8 J/mol-K for the molar specific heat of a monatomic gas at constant pressure.

The ratio of these molar specific heats is a dimensionless quantity

7.63

Theoretical values of CV, CP and γ are in excellent agreement with experimental values
obtained for monatomic gases, but they are in serious disagreement with the values for
the more complex gases. This is not surprising because the value CV = R was derived for
a monatomic ideal gas and we expect some additional contribution to the molar specific
heat from the internal structure of the more complex molecules.

In Section 7.65, we describe the effect of molecular structure on the molar specific heat
of a gas. The internal energy—and, hence, the molar specific heat—of a complex gas
must include contributions from the rotational and the vibrational motions of the
molecule. In the case of solids and liquids heated at constant pressure, very little work is
done because the thermal expansion is small. Consequently, CP and CV are approximately
equal for solids and liquids.

7.64 Adiabatic Processes for an Ideal Gas

As earlier noted, an adiabatic process is one in which no energy is transferred by heat
between a system and its surroundings. For example, if a gas is compressed (or
expanded) very rapidly, very little energy is transferred out of (or into) the system by
heat, and so the process is nearly adiabatic. Such processes occur in the cycle of a
gasoline engine, which we discuss in detail in the next chapter. Another example of an
adiabatic process is the very slow expansion of a gas that is thermally insulated from its
surroundings.

Suppose that an ideal gas undergoes an adiabatic expansion. At any time during the
process, we assume that the gas is in an equilibrium state, so that the equation of state PV
= nRT is valid. As we show below, the pressure and volume of an ideal gas at any time
during an adiabatic process are related by the expression

7.64
Where γ = CP/CV is assumed to be constant during the process. Thus, we see that all three
variables in the ideal gas law—P, V, and T—change during an adiabatic process.

Proof That PVγ = Constant for an Adiabatic Process

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When a gas is compressed adiabatically in a thermally insulated cylinder, no energy is
transferred by heat between the gas and its surroundings; thus, Q = 0. Let us imagine an
infinitesimal change in volume dV and an accompanying infinitesimal change in
temperature dT. The work done on the gas is - P dV. Because the internal energy of an
ideal gas depends only on temperature, the change in the internal energy in an adiabatic
process is the same as that for an isovolumetric process between the same temperatures,

dEint = nCV dT 7.65

Hence, the first law of thermodynamics, ΔEint = Q + W, with Q = 0 becomes

7.66
Taking the total differential of the equation of state of an ideal gas, PV = nRT, we see that

PdV + VdP = nRdT 7.67

Eliminating dT from these two equations, we find that

7.68
Substituting R = CP - CV and dividing by PV, we obtain

7.69
Integrating this expression, we have which is equivalent to Equation 7.64:
7.70

The PV diagram for an adiabatic compression is shown in Figure 7.8. Because γ > 1, the
PV curve is steeper than it would be for an isothermal compression.

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Fig. 7.8: The PV diagram for an adiabatic compression. Note that Tf >Ti in this process,
so the temperature of the gas increases.

By the definition of an adiabatic process, no energy is transferred by heat into or out of

the system. Hence, from the first law, we see that ΔEint is positive (work is done on the
gas, so its internal energy increases) and so ΔT also is positive. Thus, the temperature of
the gas increases (Tf > Ti) during an adiabatic compression. Conversely, the temperature
decreases if the gas expands adiabatically. Applying Equation 7.64 to the initial and final
states, we see that

7.71
Using the ideal gas law, we can express Equation 21.19 as

7.72

7.65 The Equipartition of Energy

We have found that predictions based on our model for molar specific heat agree quite
well with the behavior of monatomic gases but not with the behavior of complex gases.
The value predicted by the model for the quantity CP - CV = R, however, is the same for
all gases. This is not surprising because this difference is the result of the work done on
the gas, which is independent of its molecular structure.

Fig 7.9: Possible motions of a diatomic molecule: (a) translational motion of the center of
mass, (b) rotational motion about the various axes, and (c) vibrational motion along the
molecular axis.

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To clarify the variations in CV and CP in gases more complex than monatomic gases, let
us explore further the origin of molar specific heat. So far, we have assumed that the sole
contribution to the internal energy of a gas is the translational kinetic energy of the
molecules. However, the internal energy of a gas includes contributions from the
translational, vibrational, and rotational motion of the molecules. The rotational and
vibrational motions of molecules can be activated by collisions and therefore are
“coupled” to the translational motion of the molecules. The branch of physics known as
statistical mechanics has shown that, for a large number of particles obeying the laws of
Newtonian mechanics, the available energy is, on the average, shared equally by each
independent degree of freedom. Recall that the equipartition theorem states that, at
equilibrium, each degree of freedom contributes kBT of energy per molecule.

Let us consider a diatomic gas whose molecules have the shape of a dumbbell (Fig. 7.9).
In this model, the center of mass of the molecule can translate in the x, y, and z directions
(Fig. 7.9a). In addition, the molecule can rotate about three mutually perpendicular axes
(Fig. 7.9b). We can neglect the rotation about the y axis because the molecule’s moment
of inertia Iy and its rotational energy 1/2 Iyω2 about this axis are negligible compared with
those associated with the x and z axes. (If the two atoms are taken to be point masses,
then Iy is identically zero.) Thus, there are five degrees of freedom for translation and
rotation: three associated with the translational motion and two associated with the
rotational motion. Because each degree of freedom contributes, on the average, kBT of
energy per molecule, the internal energy for a system of N molecules, ignoring vibration
for now, is

7.73

We can use this result and Equation 7.58 to find the molar specific heat at constant
volume:

7.74

From Equations 21.16 and 21.17, we find that

7.75

These results agree quite well with most of the data for diatomic molecules. This is rather
surprising because we have not yet accounted for the possible vibrations of the molecule.
In the model for vibration, the two atoms are joined by an imaginary spring (see Fig.
7.9c). The vibrational motion adds two more degrees of freedom, which correspond to the
kinetic energy and the potential energy associated with vibrations along the length of the
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molecule. Hence, classical physics and the equipartition theorem in a model that includes
all three types of motion predict a total internal energy of

7.76

and a molar specific heat at constant volume of

7.77

This value is inconsistent with experimental data for molecules such as H2 and N2 and
suggests a breakdown of our model based on classical physics.

It might seem that our model is a failure for predicting molar specific heats for diatomic
gases. We can claim some success for our model, however, if measurements of molar
specific heat are made over a wide range of temperatures.

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