Module 3 – Properties of pure substances 1

Module 3 – Properties of pure substances

3.1 Objectives
On successful completion of this module you should be able to:

● Identify the distinguishing features of solids, liquids, and gases

● demonstrate an understanding of the following terms: saturation conditions (including
saturation temperature and pressure), saturated liquid, saturated vapour, saturated (liquid-
vapour) mixture, latent heat of fusion, latent heat of vaporization
● demonstrate an understanding of the terms: compressed liquid and superheated vapour
● define the term, enthalpy
● define the term, quality, as it applies to saturated mixtures
● use tabulated data to identify properties and conditions of substances
● demonstrate a knowledge of different forms of the ideal gas equation; changes and
suitable forms of energy
● analyse systems, perform calculations, and solve problems using the above concepts and
tools.

Note
By the end of this course, you should be very familiar with the tables: A2 (part a
only), A4, A5, A6, A11, A12, and A13; the figure you should be familiar with
is: A31. Instead of using Table A2(a), you also have the option of using either
Table A2(b) or Table A17. These are the tables and figures that will be given to
you on the exam and are included in the Appendix to the study materials. You
should be able to solve most of the required problems with reference to these
tables and figures. Certainly all questions on the exam can be solved with
reference to these tables and figures alone.

3.2 Build up your understanding

Presentation
View the power point presentation for Module 3 as this presentation should help
you identify the key elements from this module.

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 Module 3 – Properties of pure substances 2

3.2.1 Pure substance

Reading activity 3.1
Section 3.1

Note that a pure substance is defined based on its properties in changing state
(phase) and has one type of atom/molecule: mixtures (e.g. air) cannot be pure.

3.2.2 Phases of pure substance

Reading activity 3.2
Section 3.2

We will use all three of solid, liquid and gas, although most of the analysis will
be involving liquids, gasses and the transformation between these two. Note that
liquids and gasses are both commonly referred to as “fluids” because most of the
behaviour is similar in each.

3.2.3 Phase-change processes of pure substances

Reading activity 3.3
Section 3.3

Compressed liquids: these are what are commonly referred to as “liquids”, but the key is that
this specific definition means that they are not in the process of changing phase.

Saturated liquid: this is a liquid that is on the verge of changing phase to gas (or has just
finished changing phase from gas). The substance is 100% liquid.

Note that because liquids are incompressible, the thermodynamic properties of a compressed
liquid are (with a very small error) identical to those of a saturated liquid at the same
temperature. (The thermodynamic state of a liquid is not very sensitive to the pressure
because liquids cannot easily be squashed or stretched.)

Saturated vapour: this is a gas that is on the verge of changing phase to liquid (or has just
finished changing phase from liquid). The substance is 100% gas.

Saturated mixture: this is some combination of liquid and gas (including saturated liquid and
saturated vapour) where both phases exist in the control volume.

Superheated vapour: this is what is commonly referred to as a “gas”, but (similar to a

compressed liquid) this gas is not in the process of changing phase.

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 Module 3 – Properties of pure substances 3

The temperature at which phase change occurs (the “saturation temperature”) is a function of
pressure only (knowing the saturation temperature for a substance specifies the saturation
pressure and vice versa). The greater the pressure, the more likely that molecules will be kept
close together (in a liquid state), and therefore the required temperature to boil the liquid
increases.

Note that a superheated vapour (with specified temperature and pressure) has a temperature
greater than the saturation temperature for the specified pressure; while its pressure is lower
than the saturation pressure for the specified temperature. So when deciding whether a
substance is a compressed liquid or superheated vapour, it is easier to compare temperatures,
since it seems more consistent.

Note
A phase change does not change the specific energy of the (saturated) liquid nor
does it change the specific energy of the (saturated) vapour. Instead, it changes
the fraction of the mixture that is in one phase or the other and the average
specific energy is calculated based on this fraction. Therefore, the average
specific energy can never be observed anywhere because there is a pool of
saturated liquid at the bottom and saturated vapour above this pool. As the phase
change takes place, the depth of the pool changes.

It is like on a die where you have black dots on a white cube to represent the
number. We are interested in equivalently having a cube with each side being
uniformly grey (uavg). On the real die, you don’t have a change in colour—the
side remains white and the dots remain black—but as you increase the number
of dots, the percentage that is black increases, and so overall that side would be
darker (have a higher average value).

3.2.4 Property diagrams for phase-change processes

Reading activity 3.4
Section 3.4

The T-v diagram is the easiest to understand and looks similar to the T-s
diagrams that will be used in Modules 9 and 10. The P-v diagram will be used
for purely gaseous systems in Module 8.

3.2.5 Property tables

Reading activity 1
Section 3.5

Enthalpy is a key property often used in the first law of thermodynamics because it is
convenient.

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 Module 3 – Properties of pure substances 4

You must become proficient in the use of tables (for water and R134a) with properties such
as temperature, pressure, specific volume, quality, enthalpy, and internal energy. It will be
difficult to pass this course without being able to use the tables.

Subscript f denotes saturated liquid, while subscript g denotes saturated vapour. The subscript
fg is the total change from one phase to the other.

Quality, x, is the “mass fraction” of vapour (the fraction of mass in the mixture that is in the
vapour phase). Note that this (usually) has a different value to the “volume fraction” (the
fraction of volume in the mixture occupied by the vapour phase).

Be familiar with Eqs. (3-4)–(3-7): these can be equivalently described as linear interpolation
formulae.

Superheated vapours have their own tables and linear interpolation is required to obtain
values in between those tabulated.

As noted before, the properties of compressed liquids can be determined by using the
properties of saturated liquids at the same temperature with low error.

3.2.5.1 Linear interpolation

The ability to solve linear interpolation is essential to using the tables. The general formula to
obtain quantity A if quantity B is known is:

B  B1
A  A1   A2  A1  
B2  B1

where state 1 has known values A1 and B1, while state 2 has known values A2 and B2. The
factor involving all the Bs can be called the “interpolation factor”

B  B1
y
B2  B1

and this is equal to the quality for a saturated mixture:

B  Bf
x
Bg  B f
B  Bf

B fg

The formula can be seen to be linear interpolation with some mathematical rearrangement:

 B  B1  B  B1
A  A1 1    A2
 B2  B1  B2  B1
 A1 1  y   A2 y

where y is the interpolation factor. Another perspective on the behaviour of linear

interpolation is to rearrange the original formula in another way:

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 Module 3 – Properties of pure substances 5

B  B1
A  A1   A2  A1  
B2  B1
A  A1 B  B1

A2  A1 B2  B1

this statement is that the gradient of A is equal to the gradient of B, which is a fundamental
assumption (that the variables change in a similar fashion) that enables any quantity to be
used for B to solve for any quantity A.

Example 3.1
Working of Example 3-7: Determine the temperature of water at a state of
P = 0.5 MPa and h = 2890 kJ/kg.

From Table A-6, the enthalpy lies between the values 2855.8 < h < 2961.0, so
the temperature must lie in the range 200°C < T < 250°C. To calculate using
linear interpolation, the value is:

2890  2855.8
T  200   250  200  
2961.0  2855.8
 216.3C

Exercise 1
Textbook problem 3.23 (6th Ed.):

Complete this table for H2O:

ToC P kPa V m3/kg Phase description

50 (a) 4.16 (b)
(c) 200 (d) Saturated vapour
250 400 (e) (f)
110 600 (g) (h)

● Navigation tables, Water

● Section 3.5, Examples 3.1 to 3.8
● Example 3.9, use Water tables
● Answers: (a) 12.352 kPa, (b) Saturated mixture, (c) 120.21oC, (d)
0.88578 m3 /kg, (e) 0.5952 (f) superheated vapour, (g) ≈ 0.001052 m3/kg, (h)
compressed liquid.

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 Module 3 – Properties of pure substances 6

Exercise 3.2
Textbook problem 3.26 (7th Ed.):

Complete this table for H2O:

ToC P kPa h kJ/kg x Phase description

(a) 200 (b) 0.7 (c)
140 (d) 1800 (e) (f)
(g) 950 (h) 0 (I)
80 500 (j) - (k)
(l) 800 3162.2 - (m)

● Navigating tables, Water

● Section 3.5, Examples 3.1 to 3.8
● Example 3.9, use Water tables
● Answers: (a) 120.21oC, (b) 2045.8 kJ/kg, (c) Saturated mixture,
(d) 361.52 kPa, (e) 0.5647, (f) Saturated mixture, (g) 177.66oC,
(h) 752.74 kJ/kg, (i) Saturated liquid, (j)  335.37 kJ/kg, (k) Compressed
liquid, (l) 350oC, (m) Superheated vapour.

Exercise 3.3
Textbook problem 3.41 (5th Ed.):

Water is to be boiled at sea level in a 30 cm diameter stainless steel pan placed

on top of a 3 kW electric burner. If 60 percent of the heat generated by the
burner is transferred to the water during boiling, determine the rate of
evaporation of water.

● Water, hfg
● Section 3.5, Example 3.3
● The heat transfer that goes into the water is ... kW, and the energy required to
vaporize the water is (hfg) .... kJ/kg, therefore the rate of evaporation is ...
kg/h.
● Answer: 2.872 kg/h

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 Module 3 – Properties of pure substances 7

Exercise 3.4
Textbook problem 3.47 (6th Ed.):

A rigid tank with a volume of 2.5 m3 contains 15 kg of saturated liquid--vapour

mixture of water at 75oC. Now the water is slowly heated. Determine the
temperature at which the liquid in the tank is completely vaporized. Also, show
the process on a T-v diagram with respect to saturation lines.

● Water, saturation temperature

● Section 3.5, Example 3.2
● Use water table(s)
● Answers: 187.0oC.

Exercise 3.5
Textbook problem 3.65 (7th Ed.):

A rigid vessel contains 2 kg of refrigerant-134a at 800 kPa and 120oC.

Determine the volume of the vessel and the total internal energy.

● R134a, extensive volume and internal energy

● Section 3.5, Example 3.1
● Find specific quantities and multiply by the mass
● Answers: 0.0753 m3, 655.7 kJ

3.2.6 The ideal-gas equation of state

Reading activity 3.6
Section 3.6

The ideal gas equation of state is very important, we will use it often.

PV = mRT

A major use of it is to compare the properties of two different states of the same
gas, i.e.

PV PV
1 1
 2 2
m1T1 m2T2

You can then cancel any properties that are constant.

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 Module 3 – Properties of pure substances 8

Exercise 3.6
Textbook problem 3.71 (6th Ed.):

A spherical balloon with a diameter of 6 m is filled with helium at 20oC and

200 kPa. Determine the mole number and the mass of the helium in the balloon.

● Volume and ideal gas calculation

● Section 3.6, Example 3.10
● Volume of a sphere is 4πr3 / 3, Ru=8.3145 kJ/kmolK, and for helium,
M = 4.0 kg/kmol. N = PV / (RuT). m = NM..
● Answers: 9.28 kmol, 37.15 kg

Exercise 3.7
Textbook problem 3.83 (7th Ed.):

The pressure in an automobile tire depends on the temperature of the air in the
tire. When the air temperature is 25oC, the pressure gage reads 210 kPa. If the
volume of the tire is 0.025 m3, determine the pressure rise in the tire when the air
temperature in the tire rises to 50oC. Also, determine the amount of air that must
be bled off to restore pressure to its original value at this temperature. Assume
the atmospheric pressure is 100 kPa.

● Ideal gas calculations

● Section 3.6, Example 3.10
● Find absolute P1. Assume volume stays fixed and calculate P2 using the
ideal gas law, P1V1 / T1 = P2V2 / T2. Use the ideal gas law at both states to
find difference in mass
● Answers: 26 kPa, 0.0070 kg

Note
Note that a gas completely fills its container; all the other state variables adjust
to satisfy this requirement. To prove this, consider that the reverse is true and a
gas fills only half of its container; the other half would be a vacuum. What
would the gas do?

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 Module 3 – Properties of pure substances 9

Exercise 3.8
Textbook problem 3.59 (5th Ed.):

A piston-cylinder device initially contains 50 L of liquid water at 40oC and

200 kPa. Heat is transferred to the water at constant pressure until the entire
liquid is vaporized. (a) What is the mass of the water, (b) What is the final
temperature, (c) Determine the total enthalpy change, (d) Show the process on a
T-v diagram with respect to saturation lines.

● Constant pressure heating

● Example 3.2 and 3.8
● Part (a) look up in tables the specific volume and use the given volume
● Part (b) find the saturation temperature at the final condition
● Part (c) look up initial and final (specific) enthalpy, take the difference and
then multiply by the mass
● Answers: (a) 49.60 kg, (b) 120.21oC, (c) 125,920 kJ

3.3 Review your understanding

3.3.1 Multiple choice test

Computer
Attempt questions 1, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 10 at the McGraw-Hill On-line Learning
Center Multiple Choice Quiz for Chapter 3.

3.3.2 Concept questions

Self assessment
Attempt the concept questions 3.6, 1.14, 3.15, 3.19, and 3.69.

● 3.6 different between critical and triple point

● 3.14 significance of hfg
● 3.15 variation of hfg with pressure
● 3.19 quality
● 3.69 different between mass and molar mass

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 Module 3 – Properties of pure substances 10

Hints for concept questions

● 3.6 at triple point the three phases ..., at critical point the saturated...
● 3.14 it represents an important amount of energy
● 3.15 it does change with pressure, but how?
● 3.19 it is a fraction
● 3.69 amount of matter and mass of one mole...

3.3.3 Tutorial Sheet 3

Self assessment
Access Tutorial Sheet 3 and selected solutions here.

Access full solutions here.

Video
Access videos of worked solutions to Problems 2 and 3.

Access screenshots of Problems 2 and 3.

Note that the preferred method of finding the third enthalpy is shown in the full
solutions; this is different to what is explained in the video.

(Note that these had previously been labelled as part of Tutorial Sheet 4.)

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