PHY607 – Tutorial 4

1. A cylinder contains 3 mol of helium gas at a temperature of 300 K.

a) If the gas is heated at constant volume, how much energy must be transferred by heat
to the gas for its temperature to increase to 500 K?
b) How much energy must be transferred by heat to the gas at constant pressure to raise
the temperature to 500 K?
2. The molar specific heat of a diatomic gas is measured at constant volume and found to be
29.1 J/mol.K. What are the types of energy that are contributing to the molar specific heat?
a) Translation only
b) Translation and rotation only
c) Translation and vibration only
d) Translation, rotation, and vibration.
3. Why is the following situation impossible? A team of researchers discovers a new gas,
𝑪𝒑
which has a value of 𝜸 of 1.75.
𝑪𝒗

4. Consider a sample containing 2 mol of an ideal diatomic gas. Assuming the molecules
rotate but do not vibrate, find
a) The total heat capacity of the sample at constant volume and
b) The total heat capacity at constant pressure.
c) Repeat parts (a) and (b), assuming the molecules both rotate and vibrate.
5. Air at 20⁰C in the cylinder of a diesel engine is compressed from an initial pressure of 1
atm and volume of 800 cm3 to a volume of 60 cm3. Assume air behaves as an ideal gas with
𝜸 1.40 and the compression is adiabatic.
a) Find the final pressure of the air.
b) Use the ideal gas law to find the final temperature.
6. During the compression stroke of a certain gasoline engine, the pressure increases from 1
atm to 20 atm. If the process is adiabatic and the air–fuel mixture behaves as a diatomic ideal
gas,
a) By what factor does the volume change and
b) By what factor does the temperature change? Assuming the compression starts with
0.016 mol of gas at 27⁰C
c) Compute 𝑸,
d) Compute ∆𝑬𝒊𝒏𝒕 , and
e) Compute 𝑾 that characterize the process.
7. How much work is required to compress 5 mol of air at 20⁰C and 1 atm to one-tenth of the
original volume:
a) By an isothermal process?
b) How much work is required to produce the same compression in an adiabatic process?
c) What is the final pressure in part (a)?
d) What is the final pressure in part (b)