THERMODYNAMICS

PHYSICS PROJECT REPORT

Submitted By

M. Ram Siddesh

SRIMATHI SUNDARAVALLI MEMORIAL SCHOOL

CHENNAI
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

S. No. Content Page No.

1 Overview of Python 1-3

2 Abstract 4

3 Requirements 5

4 Built-in Functions 6

5 Data structures 7

6 Libraries 8

7 Source Code 9-15

8 Output 16-17

9 Future Outlook 18

10 Bibliography 19
 INTRODUCTION TO THERMODYNAMICS:

Thermodynamics is the science that deals with heat and work

and these properties of substances that bear a relation to heat
and work. Like all sciences, the basis of thermodynamics is
experimental observation. In thermodynamics these findings have
been formalized into certain basic laws, which are known as the
first, second, and third law of thermodynamics. In addition to
these laws, the zeroth law of thermodynamics, which in the
logical development of thermodynamics precedes the first law,
has been set forth.

In what follows, I will present the basic thermodynamics laws,

and apply them to a number of representative examples.

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SCIENTISTS INVOLVED IN THE DISCOVERY OF
THERMODYNAMICS:

Speaking of Thermodynamics, we can’t forget the “Father of

thermodynamics” SADI CARNOT and the great well known
German physicist MAX PLANCK.

SADI CARNOT:

Nicolas Léonard Sadi Carnot, the son of high-ranking military

leader Lazare Nicholas Marguerite Carnot, was born in Paris in
1796. His father resigned from the army in 1807 to educate
Nicolas and his brother Hippolyte—both received a broad, home-
based education that included science, art, language, and music.

In 1812, the 16-year-old Nicolas Carnot was admitted to the

highly esteemed École Polytechnique in Paris. His instructors
included Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac, Siméon Denis Poisson, and
André-Marie Ampère; fellow students included famous future
scientists Claude-Louis Navier, and Gaspard-Gustave Coriolis.
During his time in school, Carnot developed a special interest in
the theory of gases and solving industrial engineering problems.
After graduation, Carnot entered the French Army as a military
engineer and served until 1814. In 1821, he visited his father,
who had moved to Magdeburg, Germany. Lazare had seen a
steam engine that had come to the city and father and son spent
much of their time together discussing theories about how steam
engines worked.

Carnot returned to Paris, excited to develop scientific theories

about steam engines and heat; no researchers had yet discovered
the fundamental scientific principles behind their operation. Most

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scientists believed in caloric theory, which maintained heat was
an invisible liquid that flowed when it was out of balance. Carnot
wanted to use his research to improve the efficiency of steam
engines, which was only a meager 3% at the time.

Carnot had two key questions about heat engines he wanted to

answer: Was the work available from a heat source unlimited?
And can the efficiency of heat engines be improved by replacing
steam with a different fluid or gas?

In 1824, Carnot published Reflections on the Motive Power of

Fire, which detailed his research and presented a well-reasoned
theoretical treatment for the perfect (but unattainable) heat
engine, now known as the Carnot cycle. In the first stage of his
model, the piston moves downward while the engine absorbs heat
from a source and gas begins to expand. In the second stage, as
the piston continues to move downward, the heat is removed; the
gas still expands but this time through a temperature drop. In
the third stage, the piston starts to rise and the gas is
compressed again, driving off heat (isothermal compression). In
the fourth stage, the piston continues to move upward, the cooled
gas is compressed, and the temperature rises.

Carnot realized that the conduction of heat between parts of the

engine at different temperatures had to be eliminated to
maximize efficiency. He also introduced the concept of
reversibility, whereby motive power can be used to produce the
temperature difference in the engine. Also some of the theories he
determined laid the groundwork for the discovery of the second
law of thermodynamics.

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Carnot died during a cholera epidemic that swept Paris in 1832,
at the age of 36. Fearing they were contaminated, many of his
writings were buried with him at his funeral—very little was
saved. Unfortunately he did not live to see his work revered by
other scientists. His ideas were incorporated into the
thermodynamic theories proposed by Rudolf Clausius and
William Thomson in the early 1850s. Rudolf Diesel also drew on
Carnot's theories when he designed the diesel engine in 1893.

With his multiple scientific contributions, including the Carnot

heat engine, Carnot theorem, and Carnot efficiency, Nicolas
Léonard Sadi Carnot is often described as the "Father of
Thermodynamics." His concept of the idealized heat engine led to
the development of a thermodynamic system that could be
quantified, a key success that enabled many of the future
discoveries that lay ahead.

MAX PLANCK:

Max Planck, a German physicist, is best known as the originator

of the quantum theory of energy for which he was awarded the
Nobel Prize in 1918. His work contributed significantly to the
understanding of atomic and subatomic processes.

Planck was born in Kiel, Germany in 1858. At the age of nine he

entered the famous Maximilian Gymnasium in Munich where he
developed an interest in physics and mathematics. He was a
talented musician but decided to pursue a career in physics.
When Planck was only sixteen years old he entered the University
of Munich. He also spent time studying at the University of
Berlin, and at the age of 21 he secured a doctorate degree based

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on his work in thermodynamics, the study of heat and energy. He
became a lecturer at the University of Munich and eventually
became a full professor of theoretical physics at the University of
Berlin.

Planck's work in thermodynamics led to the formulations of his

quantum theory. To explain the colours of hot glowing matter, he
proposed that energy is radiated in very minute and discrete
quantized amounts or packets, rather than in a continuous
unbroken wave.

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AIM OF THIS PROJECT:

Aim of the project is to do some research on thermodynamics and

how it all started. In this project I’m going to explain some of the
application for thermodynamics through studying/researching
some available articles on this topic. After that choose a topic
related to the project and investigate it.

LAWS OF THERMODYNAMICS:

First law of thermodynamics: When energy moves into or out of

a system, the system’s internal energy changes in accordance
with the law of conservation of mass.

Second law of thermodynamics: The state of the entropy of the

entire universe, as an isolated system, will always increase over
time.

Third law of thermodynamics: Entropy of a perfect crystal at

absolute zero is zero.

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APPLICATION OF SECOND LAW OF THERMODYNAMICS:

1) According to the law, heat always flows from a body at a higher

temperature to a body at the lower temperature. This law is
applicable to all types of heat engine cycles including Otto, Diesel,
etc. for all types of working fluids used in the engines. This law has
led to the progress of present-day vehicles.

2) Another application of this law is refrigerators and heat pumps

based on the Reversed Carnot Cycle. If you want to move heat from
a body at a lower temperature to a body at a higher temperature,
then you have to supply external work. In the original Carnot
Cycle, heat produces work while in the Reversed Carnot Cycle
work is provided to transfer heat from lower temperature reservoir
to a higher temperature reservoir.

Removing heat from the food items in the refrigerator and throwing
it away to the higher temperature atmosphere doesn’t happen
automatically. We need to supply external work via the compressor
to make this happen in the refrigerator.

Air conditioner and heat pump follow the similar law of

thermodynamics. The air conditioner removes heat from the room
and maintains it at a lower temperature by throwing the absorbed
heat into the atmosphere. The heat pump absorbs heat from the
atmosphere and supplies it to the room which is cooler in winters.

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In both the cases above, external work/energy in the form of
electricity has to be supplied; larger the temperature difference,
larger is the external work required.

OTHER APPLICATIONS OF THERMODYNAMICS:

Sweating in a crowded room:

In a crowded room, everybody (every person) starts sweating. The

body starts cooling down by transferring the body heat to the
sweat. Sweat evaporates adding heat to the room. Again, this
happens due to the first and second law of thermodynamics in
action. One thing to keep in mind, heat is not lost but transferred
attaining equilibrium with maximum entropy.

Melting of ice cube:

Ice cubes in a drink absorb heat from the drink making the drink
cooler. If we forget to drink it, after some time, it again attains
room temperature by absorbing the atmospheric heat. All this
happens as per the first and second law of thermodynamics.

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INVESTIGATING THE ‘MPEMBA EFFECT’:

The Mpemba effect is the name given to the observation that

a liquid (typically water) which is initially hot can freeze faster
than the same liquid which begins cold, under otherwise similar
conditions.

AIM OF THE INVESTIGATION:

The goal of this project is to investigate the question, "Can hot

water freeze faster than cold water?"

INTRODUCTION TO THE INVESTIGATION:

It may seem counterintuitive, but wisdom and a body of

published evidence agree that, under some conditions, warmer
water can freeze faster than colder water (Jeng, 2005).

This phenomenon has been known for a long time, but was
rediscovered by a Tanzanian high school student, Erasto
Mpemba, in the 1960s. He and his classmates were making ice
cream, using a recipe that included boiled milk. The students
were supposed to wait for the mixture to cool before putting it in
the freezer. The remaining space in the freezer was running out,
and Mpemba noticed one of his classmates put his mixture in
without boiling the milk. To save time and make sure that he got
a spot in the freezer, Mpemba put his mixture in while it was still
hot. He was surprised to find later that his ice cream froze first
(Meng, 2005).

When Mpemba later asked his teacher for an explanation of how

his hotter ice cream mixture could freeze before a cooler one, the

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teacher teased him, "Well all I can say is that is Mpemba physics
and not the universal physics" (quote in Jeng, 2005). Mpemba
followed his curiosity and did more experiments with both water
and milk, which confirmed his initial findings. He sought out an
explanation for his findings from a visiting university professor,
Dr. Osborne. Work in Dr. Osborne's lab confirmed the results,
and Mpemba and Osborne described their experiments in a
published paper (Mpemba and Osborne, 1969).

Since Mpemba and Osborne's paper was published many

scientists have tried to replicate their findings. In some cases
people have seen the Mpemba effect, in other cases the hotter
water does not freeze faster. Today most scientists consider the
Mpemba effect to be a real phenomena but the variability in
results has sparked a great deal of debate over what specific
conditions are needed to see the effect and why it occurs. How
can it be that hot water freezes faster than colder water? Let’s
find out.

AN INTERESTING EXPERIMENT BY JEARL WALKER:

Walker measured the time taken for various water samples to

cool down to the freezing point (0°C), not the time for them to
actually freeze. He measured the temperature of the water using
a thermocouple, which could be placed at various depths in the
beaker. Whether you use a thermocouple or a thermometer, it is
important that the sensing portion of the device (thermocouple
itself, or the bulb of the thermometer) be immersed in the water
in order to get accurate readings. Walker used identical Pyrex

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beakers for his water samples, since they could go from the stove
to the freezer without breaking. He used a metal plate over the
stove burner to distribute the heat evenly to the beakers as they
were heating. He heated the beakers slowly, and he also kept the
beakers covered while heating, so that water that evaporated
during heating would be returned to the beaker. Walker notes
that "You cannot obtain accurate readings by first heating some
water in a teakettle, pouring the water into a beaker already in
the freezer and then taking a temperature reading. The water has
cooled too much by then" (Walker, 1997, 246). Walker also
reported that the air temperature in his freezer was between −8
and −15°C.

He advises, "To maintain a consistent air temperature be sure to

keep the freezer door shut as much as possible" (Walker, 1977,
246). For further details on his experimental procedure and
findings, see the original Scientific American article.

Figure 1. Some of Walker's results (Walker, 1977). For details, see text.

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 The graph in Figure 1 shows some of Walker's data. The x-axis
shows the time it took for the sample to reach 0°C (in minutes).
The y-axis shows the initial temperature of the sample (in °C).
The graph shows data from six separate experiments (a-f), each
with a different symbol:

a. 50 ml water in small beaker, non-frost-free refrigerator (black

squares),
b. 50 ml water in large beaker, non-frost-free refrigerator (red
circles),
c. 50 ml water in large beaker, frost-free refrigerator (green
triangles),
d. 100 ml water in large beaker, thermocouple near bottom (blue
triangles),
e. 100 ml water in large beaker, covered with plastic wrap,
thermocouple near bottom (light blue diamonds),
f. 100 ml in large beaker, thermocouple near top (magenta
triangles).

Under some conditions (b, d, f), he found that samples that were
initially hotter reached 0°C faster than samples that were initially
cooler, confirming Mpemba's results. Under other conditions (a,
e), hotter samples took as long or longer than cooler samples to
reach 0°C. The results for experiment c are equivocal—it's
difficult to say whether the time differences are significant or not.
This kind of variability is one of the things that has intrigued
people about the Mpemba effect and makes it so interesting to
experiment with.

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 MATERIALS REQUIRED:

Identical Pyrex beakers for holding water; beakers should hold

100 mL or more.

Metal plate or stove burner to distribute heat evenly.

Cover for the beaker during heating.

Two thermometers.

Freezer (or other means for cooling water below freezing point).

Stove (or other means of heating the water).

Hot mitt.

Gram scale, such as the digital pocket scale.

Clock.

PROCEDURE:

1. Do your background research so that you are knowledgeable

about the terms, concepts and questions, above. You should also
do as much research as possible on previous experiments related
to this phenomenon. The articles by Jeng and Walker (Jeng,
2005; Walker, 1977) are highly recommended.
2. Choose 4 or more initial temperatures to test, and follow the
same standard procedure for each initial temperature. For
example:
a. Measure a chosen volume of water (e.g., 50 ml) into a Pyrex
beaker.

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b. Cover the beaker so that water vapor will be captured and
returned.
c. Heat the water to the desired initial temperature.
d. Quickly weigh the beaker and water and then place in the freezer.
e. Monitor the temperature at regular intervals, and record how
long it takes for the temperature to reach 0°C.
f. Weigh the beaker and water at the end of the experiment to see
how much water evaporated while it was in the freezer. (You can
let the beaker warm up, so that there is no condensation on it,
but keep it covered so that water does not evaporate.)
g. Repeat the experiment at least three times for each chosen initial
temperature.

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INFERENCE:

From this project I got to know a lot about the topic

THERMODYNAMICS and the magic it makes in our daily life.

Through this project I got to know that “hot water freeze faster
than cold water" from that Mpemba effect Investigation.

CONCLUSION:

Key takeaways:

1. We got to know about the LAWS OF THERMODYNAMICS.

2. We got to know about the scientists who contributed
towards the discovery of THERMODYNAMICS.
3. We got to know about the day to day application of
THERMODYNAMICS.
4. Then we moved on to experiment the Mpemba effect.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY:

1. NCERT Physics book.

2. Wikipedia.
3. Walker, J. (1977). The Amateur Scientist: Hot Water Freezes
Faster Than Cold Water. Why Does It Do So? Scientific
American 237 (3): 246-257.
4. Jeng, M. (2005).

LINKS WHICH I TOOK INSPIRATION FROM:

1. www.youtube.com
2. www.google.com
3. www.sciencebuddies.org

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