1. A cylinder contains n moles of a monatomic ideal gas.

If the gas undergoes a

reversible isothermal expansion from initial volume Vi to final volume Vf along
path I in Fig. 1, its change in entropy is S = nR ln (Vf / Vi). Now consider path II
in Fig. 1, which takes the gas from the same initial state I to state x by a reversible
adiabatic expansion, and then from state x to the same final state f by a reversible
constant-volume process. (a) Describe how you would carry out the two reversible
processes for path II. (b) Show that the temperature of the gas in state x is
Tx Ti Vi / V f

2/3

(c) What are the heat QI transferred along path I and the heat QII transferred along
path II? Are they equal? (d) What is the entropy change S for path II? Is the
entropy change for path I equal to it? (e) Evaluate Tx, QI, QII and S for n = 1, Ti =
500K, and Vf / Vi = 2.

Fig. 1
2. One mole of an ideal monatomic gas is taken through the cycle shown in Fig. 2.
Assume that p = 2p0, V = 2V0, p0 = 1.01 105 Pa, V0 = 0.0225 m3. Calculate (a)
the work done during the cycle, (b) the heat added during stroke abc, and (c) the
efficiency of the cycle. (d) What is the efficiency of an ideal engine operating
between the highest and lowest temperatures that occur in the cycle? How does it
compare to the efficiency calculated in (c)?

Fig. 2
3. One mole of an ideal gas is used as the working substance of an engine that
operates on the cycle shown in Fig. 3. BC and DA are reversible adiabatic
processes. (a) Is the gas monatomic, diatomic, or polyatomic? (b) What is the
efficiency of the engine?

Fig. 3
4. An ideal engine works between temperatures T1 and T2. It drives an ideal
refrigerator that works between temperatures T3 and T4 (Fig. 4). Find the ratio Q3 /
Q1 in terms of T1, T2, T3, and T4.

Fig. 4
5. A box contains N molecules. Consider the box to be divided into left and right
parts of equal volume.
(a) What is the number of ways of having rN molecules in the left part and (1
r)N molecules in the right part? Here r is a fractional number between 0 and 1.
(b) What is the expression of the entropy of the configuration described in (a)?
(c) Use the Stirling approximation to simplify the entropy in (b).
(d) What is the value of r that maximizes the entropy in (b)?
Remark: For students who are familiar with calculus, you may like to get the
result using calculus. For students who are not familiar with calculus, you may
like to plot the entropy as a function of r to locate the maximum.
6. A box contains N gas molecules. Consider the box to be divided into three equal
parts.
(a) For a given number rN of molecules, what is the number of ways of
distributing k molecules in the left part, and (rN k) molecules in the central
part? Here r is a fractional number between 0 and 1.
(b) For a given number rN of molecules, what is the number of ways of
distributing the rN of molecules in the left and central parts, irrespective of the
number rN of molecules in each of the left and central parts?
(c) For the total number N of molecules, what is the number of ways of dividing
them into a group of rN molecules and a group of (1 r)N molecules?
(d) Considering the results of (b) and (c), what is the number of ways of
distributing rN molecules in the left and central parts, and (1 r)N molecules
in the right part?
(e) What is the expression of the entropy of the configuration described in (d)?
(f) Use the Stirling approximation to simplify the entropy expression in (e).
(g) What is the value of r that maximizes the entropy in (f)?
Remark: For students who are familiar with calculus, you may like to get the
result using calculus. For students who are not familiar with calculus, you may
like to plot the entropy as a function of r to locate the maximum.
(h) What conclusion can you get from (g) about free expansion of ideal gases?

7. There are two cylinders shown in Fig. 5. The base areas of both cylinders are 1
dm2. The left cylinder contains a gas, whose mass and volume are 4 g and 22.4 L
respectively. The pressure and the temperature of the gas are 1 atm and 0 C
respectively. The right cylinder contains the same gas as that in the left. The mass,
volume and temperature of the gas are 7.44 g, 22.4 L and 0 C respectively. The
left cylinder is isolated from the environment, and the right cylinder is kept at a
temperature of 0 C through its contact with a heat reservoir. The entire system is
placed in vacuum. After the piston is released, it moves 5 dm until it stops at
equilibrium. What is the heat absorbed by the gas in the right cylinder? (The
specific heat of the gas is 0.75 cal/gK)

Fig. 5
8. 0.1 mole of an ideal gas goes through a cyclic process as shown in Fig. 6. The
pressure of the gas is increased from state A to state B through a constant-volume
process. Then it expands to state C along the straight line BC. Finally it contracts
to state A through an isobaric contraction process.
(a) In this cyclic process, what is the highest temperature of the gas, and what is
the corresponding pressure and temperature?
(b) How much heat does the gas absorb from the environment during the process
from state B to state C? (The heat released is excluded.)
3
The internal energy of 1 mol ideal gas is U RT where T is the temperature (K)
2
and R is the gas constant = 8.31 J/molK.

Fig. 6