University of Houston

Department of Mechanical Engineering

MECE 2334: Thermodynamics I
Problem set #1: Fall Semester 2014
Problem 1 Basic Definitions in Thermodynamics
i) Review the definitions of open, closed and isolated system.
ii) Consider the following systems:
- Water boiling in a kettle (with and without the lid)
- A block of copper at 80C submerged in a pool of water at 20C
- A space heater
- The turbine of a hydroelectric power plant
- An internal combustion engine
For each of these systems, determine whether it is open/closed/isolated, and also
the sign of the heat and work transfer terms.
Problem 2 Thermodynamics Properties
Which of the following are properties of the specified system? Which are not?
System: An H2/Air Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell (here is a short
description: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuel_cell)
a. volume of the fuel cell
b. mass of the fuel cell
c. pressure of the H2 gas in the fuel cell
d. pressure of the air in the fuel cell
e. water generated by the cell of the past year of operation
f. work produced by the fuel cell over the past month
g. voltage of the fuel cell
h. entropy generated by the fuel cell
i. heat transferred from the fuel cell to the environment over one minute
j. date the fuel cell was assembled k. temperature of the fuel cell

Problem 3 1st Law of Thermodynamics

Please consider the mechanical system shown in the figure above. A mass M is
suspended from a string in a gravity field g. Below the mass is a rigid platform
of mass m (where m << M) that is mounted on two identical springs with spring
constants k. The string supporting mass M is cut, and the mass falls from a
height H striking the platform midway between the two springs.
a)
Define the system, in terms of the simplest model composed of pure
conservative mechanical system elements that will enable you to determine the
minimum height that the platform attains after being struck by the falling mass.
What is the minimum height?
b)
What would be the ultimate equilibrium height of the platform?
c)
Describe the work transfer and the energy transfer of each system element
of the system as defined in part (a) above.
d) Suppose that the mass M is replaced by a smaller mass at a proportionally
larger free fall height. If the mass is reduced by a factor of ten and the free fall
height H-a-b-h is increased by a factor of ten, what effect does this have on
the minimum height and the equilibrium height? Please note that the dimension
a of the mass M remains constant.