Homework Assignment #12

Heat Engines Introduced

Description: Simple questions to illustrate the concept and basic principles of a heat engine.
Learning Goal: To understand what a heat engine is and its theoretical limitations.
Ever since Hero demonstrated a crude steam turbine in ancient Greece, humans have dreamed of
converting heat into work. If a fire can boil a pot and make the lid jump up and down, why can't
heat be made to do useful work?
A heat engine is a device designed to convert heat into work. The heat engines we will study will
be cyclic: The working substance eventually returns to its original state sometime after having
absorbed a quantity of heat and done some work. A cyclic heat engine cannot convert heat into
work without generating some waste heat in the process. Although by no means intuitively
obvious, this is an important fact of nature, since it dramatically affects the technology of energy
generation. If it were possible to convert heat into work without any waste heat, then one would
be able to build refrigerators that are more than 100% efficient!
Consequently, the "impossible heat engine" pictured schematically here

cannot exist, even in theory. Engineers tried

hard for many years to make such a device, but Sadi Carnot proved in 1824 that it was
impossible.

The next figure

shows an "ideal" heat engine,

one that obeys the laws of thermodynamics. It takes in heat

. In the process of doing this it generates waste heat

at a temperature

at a cooler temperature

and does work

.

Take
and to be the magnitudes of the heat absorbed and emitted, respectively; therefore
both quantities are positive.
Part A
A heat engine is designed to do work. This is possible only if certain relationships between the
heats and temperatures at the input and output hold true. Which of the following sets of
statements must apply for the heat engine to do work?
ANSWER:
and
and
and
and
Part B
Find the work

done by the "ideal" heat engine.

Express in terms of
ANSWER:
=

and

Part C
The thermal efficiency of a heat engine is defined as follows:
Express the efficiency in terms of
ANSWER:
=

and

 From Hot to Cool: The Second Law of Thermodynamics

Description: Includes Math Remediation. Discussion of the second law of thermodynamics:
several statements, examples of irreversible processes. Introduction to entropy; some basic
calculations involving entropy change at constant temperature.
Learning Goal: To understand the meaning and applications of the second law of
thermodynamics, to understand the meaning of entropy, and perform some basic calculations
involving entropy changes.
The first law of thermodynamics (which states that energy is conserved) does not specify the
direction in which thermodynamic processes in nature can spontaneously occur. For example,
imagine an object initially at rest suddenly taking off along a rough horizontal surface and
speeding up (gaining kinetic energy) while cooling down (losing thermal energy). Although such
a process would not violate conservation of energy, it is, of course, impossible and could never
take place spontaneously.
The second law of thermodynamics dictates which processes in nature may occur spontaneously
and which ones may not. The second law can be stated in many ways, one of which uses the
concept of entropy.
Entropy

Entropy can be thought of as a measure of a system's disorder: A lower degree of disorder

implies lower entropy, and vice versa. For example, a highly ordered ice crystal has a relatively
low entropy, whereas the same amount of water in a much less ordered state, such as water
vapor, has a much higher entropy. Entropy is usually denoted by , and has units of energy
divided by temperature (
). For an isothermal process (the temperature of the system remains
constant as it exchanges heat with its surroundings), the change in a system's entropy is given by

,
where

is the amount of heat involved in the process and

is the absolute temperature of the

system. The heat is positive if thermal energy is absorbed by the system from its surroundings,
and is negative if thermal energy is transferred from the system to its surroundings.
Using the idea of entropy, the second law can be stated as follows:
The entropy of an isolated system may not decrease. It either increases as the system approaches
equilibrium, or stays constant if the system is already in equilibrium.

Any process that would tend to decrease the entropy of an isolated system could never occur
spontaneously in nature. For a system that is not isolated, however, the entropy can increase, stay
the same, or decrease.
Part A
What happens to the entropy of a bucket of water as it is cooled down (but not frozen)?
ANSWER:
It increases.
It decreases.
It stays the same.
Presumably, the bucket is not isolated: Heat must be transferred to another object, which is most
likely at a lower temperature than that of the bucket.
Part B
What happens to the entropy of a cube of ice as it is melted?
ANSWER:
It increases.
It decreases.
It stays the same.
Part C
What happens to the entropy of a piece of wood as it is burned?
ANSWER:
It increases.
It decreases.
It stays the same.
When a solid object is turned into a gas, the degree of disorder increases, so the entropy
increases.
Let us try some calculations now.
Part D
An object at 20 absorbs 25.0 of heat. What is the change in entropy
Express your answer numerically in joules per kelvin.
ANSWER:
=

of the object?

8.53102

Part E
An object at 500

dissipates 25.0

of heat into the surroundings. What is the change in entropy

of the object? Assume that the temperature of the object does not change appreciably in the
process.
Express your answer numerically in joules per kelvin.
ANSWER:
=
-50
Part F
An object at 400 absorbs 25.0 of heat from the surroundings. What is the change in entropy
of the object? Assume that the temperature of the object does not change appreciably in the
process.
Express your answer numerically in joules per kelvin.
ANSWER:
=
62.5
Part G
Two objects form a closed system. One object, which is at 400 , absorbs 25.0 of heat from
the other object,which is at 500 . What is the net change in entropy
of the system?
Assume that the temperatures of the objects do not change appreciably in the process.
Express your answer numerically in joules per kelvin.
ANSWER:
=
12.5
Note that the net entropy change is positive as the heat is transferred from the hotter object to the
colder one. If heat were transferred in the other direction, the change in entropy would have been
negative; that is, the entropy of the system would have decreased. This observation, not
surprisingly, is in full accord with the second law of thermodynamics.

Does Entropy Really Always Increase?

Description: A hot metal bar is thrown into a lake. Find the entropy change of the lake given the
temperatures of the lake and the bar and the specific heat capacity of the metal. Also determine
the total change of entropy given the entropy change of the bar and discuss the application of the
second law of thermodynamics to systems that are not isolated.
An aluminum bar of mass 2.00
in the lake is 15.0
Part A

at 300

is thrown into a lake. The temperature of the water

; the specific heat capacity of aluminum is 900

The bar eventually reaches thermal equilibrium with the lake. What is the entropy change
of the lake? Assume that the lake is so large that its temperature remains virtually constant.
Hint A.1 How to approach the problem
You can calculate the entropy change of the lake using the formula for the entropy change in an
isothermal process. Note that the amount of heat transferred to the water in the lake is equal to
the amount of heat lost by the bar.
Hint A.2 Find the heat absorbed by the lake
Find
, the amount of heat absorbed by the lake.
Hint A.2.1 Find the temperature of thermal equilibrium
What is the temperature of thermal equilibrium
Express your answer numerically in kelvins.
ANSWER:

of the aluminum bar and the lake?

=
288
Hint A.2.2 Find the energy change for the aluminum bar
What is the change of heat energy
for the metal bar?
Hint A.2.2.1 Heat and the temperature change
The heat

absorbed or given up by an object is given by

,

where is the mass of the object,

is the initial temperature,
temperature, and is the specific heat of the substance.
Express your answer numerically in joules.
ANSWER:
=
5.13105
Express your answer numerically in joules.

is the final

ANSWER:
=
5.13105
Hint A.3 Entropy change in an isothermal process
When there is a heat transfer of
to a substance at constant temperature
change
of the substance is given by

, the entropy

,
where is absolute temperature.
Express your answer numerically in joules per kelvin
ANSWER:
=
1780
Part B
Has the entropy of the aluminum bar decreased or increased?
Hint B.1
How to approach the question
Since the temperature of the aluminum bar changes during the cooling process, the exact
entropy change of the bar cannot be easily calculated. However, you can use the interpretation
of entropy as a measure of randomness to determine whether its change is positive or negative.
ANSWER:

Since the entropy change of a system is always positive, we can deduce that
the entropy of the aluminum bar has increased.
Since the final lower temperature of the bar means lower average speed of
molecular motion, we can deduce that the entropy of the bar has decreased.
We don't have enough information to determine whether the entropy of the
aluminum bar has decreased or increased.

Part C
Since the aluminum bar is not an isolated system, the second law of thermodynamics cannot be
applied to the bar alone. Rather, it should be applied to the bar in combination with its
surroundings (the lake).
Assume that the entropy change of the bar is -73.5

, what is the change in total entropy

?
Hint C.1 Total change of entropy
The change in total entropy is defined as the sum of the entropy changes of the system and the
surroundings.
Express your answer numerically in joules per Kelvin

ANSWER:
=
1710
Even though the aluminum bar lowers its entropy, the total entropy change of the bar and its
surroundings (the water in the lake) is positive, and the total entropy increases.
Part D
The second law of thermodynamics states that spontaneous processes tend to be accompanied by
entropy increase. Consider, however, the following spontaneous processes:

the growth of plants from simple seeds to well-organized systems

the growth of a fertilized egg from a single cell to a complex adult organism
the formation of snowflakes from molecules of liquid water with random motion to a
highly ordered crystal
the growth of organized knowledge over time

In all these cases, systems evolve to a state of less disorder and lower entropy, apparently
violating the second law of thermodynamics. Could we, then, consider them as processes
occurring in systems that are not isolated?
ANSWER:
True
False
All the processes listed above require energy input to occur just as a refrigerator requires
electrical energy to run. Systems can become more ordered and lower their entropy as time
passes. However, this can happen only as the entropy of the environment increases, just as we
found out in the case of the hot aluminum bar cooling down in the lake.

Heat into Work

Description: Series of true/fase questions about isothermal expansion which test knowledge of
the first and second laws of thermodynamics.
An ideal gas is confined within a thermally isolated cylinder. It consists of atoms initially at a
pressure of . A movable piston seals the right end of the cylinder, as shown in the figure.

A given amount of heat is slowly added to

the gas, while the piston allows the gas to expand in such a way that the gas's temperature
remains constant at
Part A

As heat is added, the pressure in this gas __________.

Hint A.1 Expansion or contraction?
If the gas is heated, positive work must be done, which means that the gas must expand.
Hint A.2 Isothermal process
Recall the ideal gas law:
temperature constant.
ANSWER:

. Remember that the expansion is regulated to keep the

increases
decreases
remains constant
cannot be determined

Part B
Is the internal energy of the gas the same before and after
Hint B.1
Find the formula for internal energy

is added?

The internal energy of an ideal gas is equal to the total kinetic energy of its constituent atoms.
Determine an expression for the internal energy of the gas

per degree of freedom.

Express your answer in terms of Boltzmann's constant and the temperature

ANSWER:

of the gas.

=
ANSWER:

yes
no

Part C
Does the second law of thermodynamics forbid converting all of the absorbed heat
done by the piston?
Hint C.1
Second law of thermodynamics

into work

The following is the Kelvin-Planck statement of the second law of thermodynamics:

It is impossible for an engine working in a cycle to produce no other effect than that of
extracting heat from a reservoir and performing an equivalent amount of work.
Note especially the words "in a cycle." Does the gas in this problem undergo a complete cycle?
ANSWER:

yes
no

Part D
The (Kelvin-Planck statement of the) second law of thermodynamics reads as follows:
It is impossible for an engine working in a cycle to produce no other effect than that of extracting
heat from a reservoir and performing an equivalent amount of work.
The phrase "in a cycle" does not apply in this situation, so the second law does not forbid heat
being converted entirely into work. For this particular problem, is all of the heat energy absorbed
by the gas in fact turned into work done on the piston?
Hint D.1
Relate , , and
Using the first law of thermodynamics, find
and the net work done by the gas .
ANSWER:
=
ANSWER:

yes
no

in terms of the change in the gas's internal energy

Part E
Does the magnitude of the force that the gas exerts on the piston depend on the piston's area?
Hint E.1
Find a formula for the force exerted on the piston
Type an expression for , the force exerted on the piston.
Express your answer in terms of the gas's pressure and the area of the cylinder
ANSWER:
=
ANSWER:

yes
no

Part F
Is the total work done by the gas independent of the area of the piston?
Hint F.1
Find a formula for the work done on the piston
Find an expression for an infinitesimal amount of work
done by the gas on the piston.
Express your answer in terms of the gas's pressure and an infinitesimal change in volume
ANSWER:
=

Does this expression explicitly depend on the piston's area? Alternatively, consider the
statement of the first law of thermodynamics:
are fixed, does depend on the area of the piston?
ANSWER:

. If

and the temperature of the gas

yes
no

Given the same initial pressure of the gas, the greater the area of the piston, the larger the force
on it. However, the work done on the piston when heat energy

is added is independent of

piston area (because

and
). From this we can infer that the force must act
through a shorter distance (i.e., the piston does not move as much) when the piston area is
greater.

Simplified Otto Cycle

Description: Extremely simple, qualitative problem. Basically reinforces the definition of
adiabaticity, the fact that internal energy depends only on temperature, and the sign convention
for work done by/on a gas.
The idealized cycle shown is known as the Otto cycle.

Suppose an engine is executing this Otto cycle,

using a gas (not necessarily ideal) as its working substance. From state A to state B, the gas is
allowed to expand adiabatically. (An adiabatic process is one in which no heat is added to, or
given off by, the working gas.) The gas is then cooled at constant volume until it reaches state C,
at which point it is adiabatically compressed to state D. Finally, it is heated at constant volume
until it returns to state A.
The pressure and volume of the gas in state A are
volume of the gas in state C are

and

and

respectively. The pressure and

respectively.

Part A
How much heat
is added to the gas as it proceeds from state A to state B?
Hint A.1 Type of thermodynamic process
The process from state A to state B is adiabatic. What does adiabatic mean?
Express your answer in terms of any needed variables from the problem introduction.
ANSWER:
=
0
Part B
How much heat

is given up by the gas as it proceeds from state C to state D?

Hint B.1 Type of thermodynamic process

The process from state C to state D is adiabatic. What does adiabatic mean?
Express your answer in terms of any needed variables from the problem introduction.
ANSWER:
=
0
Part C
What is
, the change in the gas's internal energy after a complete cycle?
Hint C.1 What does internal energy depend on?
The internal energy is a "state function"; it depends only on the state of the gas (in this case, just
the temperature) and is therefore not path-dependent. After a complete cycle, the gas returns to
its original state.
Express your answer in terms of any needed variables from the problem introduction.
ANSWER:
=
0
Part D
Suppose you want positive work to be done by the gas. In which direction should the Otto cycle
be run?
ANSWER:
clockwise (A to B to C to D to A)
counterclockwise (A to D to C to B to A)

20.6.

IDENTIFY: Apply e 1

1
1

e 1

|QC |

|QH |

r
SET UP: In part (b), QH 10,000 J The heat discarded is |QC |.
EXECUTE: (a) e 1

0594 594%
950040
(b) |QC| |QH |(1 e) (10,000 J)(1 0594) 4060 J.
EVALUATE: The work output of the engine is W |QH | |QC| 10,000 J 4060 J 5940 J.

Melting Ice with a Carnot Engine

Description: If a Carnot engine melts a given amount of ice, calculate the work done by the
engine.
A Carnot heat engine uses a hot reservoir consisting of a large amount of boiling water and a
cold reservoir consisting of a large tub of ice and water. In 5 minutes of operation of the engine,
the heat rejected by the engine melts a mass of ice equal to 2.00102
Throughout this problem use

for the heat of fusion for water.

Part A
During this time, how much work is performed by the engine?
Hint A.1
How to approach the problem
Determine the temperature of each reservoir in kelvins and the heat rejected to the cold
reservoir. Use these values to calculate the heat absorbed from the hot reservoir, and then
calculate the work done by the engine.
Hint A.2 Temperature conversion
To convert a temperature from degrees Celsius into kelvins, use

Hint A.3 Calculate the heat rejected

Calculate
, the heat rejected to the cold reservoir by the Carnot engine.
Hint A.3.1
How to approach the problem
Since the amount of ice that melts is known, the heat needed to melt the ice must be equal to
the magnitude of the heat rejected by the Carnot engine. Use the equation for the heat of a
phase change to determine this, then think about how this relates to the heat rejected by the
engine.
Hint A.3.2 Equation for melting ice
The equation for ice melting is
2

2.0010

, where

is the mass of ice being melted, and

is the heat absorbed by the ice,

is the heat of fusion for water.

ANSWER:
=
-6680
Hint A.4 Calculate the heat absorbed
Calculate
, the heat absorbed from the hot reservoir by the Carnot engine.
Hint A.4.1
How to approach the problem

Use the relationship between the temperatures of the reservoirs and the heats absorbed from or
rejected to those reservoirs to calculate the heat absorbed from the hot reservoir.
Hint A.4.2 Equation for heat transfer in a Carnot engine
The equation relating the heats and temperatures in a Carnot engine is given by

.
Note the sign used in the equation, and recall that all temperatures should be expressed in
kelvins.
ANSWER:
=
9130
Hint A.5 Using the first law of thermodynamics
The work done by the engine is the sum of the heat absorbed by the engine from the hot
reservoir and the heat rejected by the engine into the cold reservoir. Be very careful about your
signs.
ANSWER:
=
2450
As you can see from this problem, it is very important to keep in mind the signs of the heats
exchanged in an engine. When the Carnot engine absorbs heat from a reservoir, the heat will be a
positive quantity since the heat is being added to the engine, before it does any work. Similarly,
when the Carnot engine rejects heat to a reservoir, the heat will be a negative quantity since the
heat is lost from the engine. The work done by the engine, by the first law of thermodynamics, is
therefore the sum of all heat changes in the engine.

Test Your Understanding 20.3: Internal-Combustion Engines

Description: [[This problem tests student understanding of internal-combustion engines.
Multiple-choice problem based on Test Your Understanding 20.3.]] (a) If you double the
compression ratio of an Otto-cycle engine from 6.0 to 12, what happens to the engine's...
Part A
If you double the compression ratio of an Otto-cycle engine from 6.0 to 12, what happens to the
engine's thermal efficiency?
ANSWER:
it decreases
it remains the same
it increases, but by a factor less than 2
it increases by a factor greater than 2
it increases by a factor of 2
it increases, but not enough information is given to decide by what factor
The thermal efficiency of an Otto-cycle engine with compression ratio is

where

and for

is the ratio of heat capacities for air. For

we find

Thus the efficiency increases, but by a factor less than 2.

we find

Test Your Understanding 20.8: Microscopic Interpretation of Entropy

Description: [[This problem tests student understanding of the microscopic interpretation of
entropy. Multiple-choice problem based on Test Your Understanding 20.8.]] A thermodynamic
system has a large number of possible microscopic states. (a) If you double the...
A thermodynamic system has a large number of possible microscopic states.
Part A
If you double the number of possible microscopic states, what happens to the entropy of the
system?
ANSWER:
it decreases
it remains the same
it increases, but by a factor less than 2
it increases by a factor of 2
it increases by a factor greater than 2
it increases, but not enough information is given to decide by what factor
If a thermodynamic system has

possible microscopic states, the entropy of that system is

where is the Boltzmann constant. If the number of possible microscopic states is doubled to
, the ratio of the final entropy

to the initial entropy

is

This is greater than 1, so the entropy increases. We are told that the initial number of possible
microscopic states is a large number. Therefore is much greater than 2, ln is much greater
than ln 2, and the ratio (ln 2)/(ln ) is a small positive number. This tells us that
1 plus a small positive number, so the ratio of entropies is between 1 and 2.

is equal to

 A Carnot Refrigerator
Description: Includes Math Remediation. A mix of conceptual and quantitative questions
about ideal refrigerators.
The ideal Carnot engine operates cyclically, just like any real engine.The Carnot cycle includes
four reversible steps: two isothermal processes and two adiabatic ones. If the Carnot cycle is
reversed, a Carnot refrigerator is created. This theoretical device has the highest coefficient of
performance among all refrigerators operating between given inside and outside temperatures.
Throughout this problem, we will use the following symbols:

: the (positive) amount of heat delivered to the "outside" during one cycle or during
some time specified in the problem;

: the (positive) amount of heat absorbed from the "inside" during one cycle or during
some time specified in the problem;

: the amount of external work input during one cycle or during some time specified in
the problem;

: the absolute temperature of the outside; and

: the absolute temperature of the inside.

In general terms, the performance of a system can be thought of as the output per unit input. The
coefficient of performance

of any refrigerator can be represented mathematically as

.
Part A
What is the coefficient of performance
Hint A.1
Some useful equations

of the Carnot refrigerator?

Recall that in a Carnot cycle,

,
where we have taken all heat exchanged to be positive. Substitute for
expression for the efficiency. Also recall that
.
ANSWER:

and

in the earlier

Part B
Imagine an ideal (Carnot) refrigerator that keeps helium in its liquid state, at a temperature of
about 4.00

. The refrigerator, with the helium container inside, is in a laboratory where the

temperature is about 294

. Because of the imperfection of the insulation, 2.00 of heat is

absorbed by the refrigerator each hour. How much electrical energy

refrigerator to maintain a temperature of 4.00
Hint B.1 How to approach the problem
In Part A, you found an expression for

inside for one hour?

in a Carnot refrigerator in terms of the temperatures.

Since you have the temperatures, you can calculate

defined by
work

must be used by the

for this problem. You also know that

. Therefore, if you find the value of

and calculate

required. The work is supplied by the electrical energy, so

, you can find the

.

Hint B.2 Find the value of

Use the formula you found in Part A to determine
Express your answer numerically.
ANSWER:

for this refrigerator.

=
1.38102
Hint B.3 What is the value of

is

The refrigerator, i.e., the helium in it, absorbs 2.00 of heat every hour. For the helium to be
maintained at the same temperature, the same amount of heat must be removed from it also.
Therefore
.
Express your answer in joules to three significant figures.
ANSWER:
=
145
When the temperature difference is great, and is very low, the coefficient of performance is
also very low, and the refrigerator requires a great deal of energy input to do the job. This

partially explains why it is so expensive to produce and maintain liquid helium. In this example,
145 of energy is required to extract only 2 from the refrigerator. However, when the
temperature difference is not so great, the refrigerators become much more efficient, as
illustrated by the next problem.
Part C
Imagine an ideal (Carnot) refrigerator that keeps soda bottles chilled to a temperature of about
280

. The refrigerator is located in a hot room with a temperature of about 300

. Because of

the imperfect insulation, 5.00 of heat is absorbed by the refrigerator each hour. How much
electrical energy must be used by the refrigerator to maintain the temperature of 280
for one hour?
Hint C.1 Find the value of
Use the formula you found in Part A to determine
Express your answer numerically.
ANSWER:

inside

for this refrigerator.

=
14.0
Express your answer in joules to three significant figures.
ANSWER:
=
0.357
When the temperature difference is small, and

is not too low, the refrigerator requires very

little energy input: In our example, it uses less than 0.4 to exhaust 5 from the refrigerator.