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Ch 19: Work, Heat, and the First Law of Thermodynamics
Chapter 19, Problem 19.61a

Two cylinders each contain 0.10 mol of a diatomic gas at 300 K and a pressure of 3.0 atm. Cylinder A expands isothermally and cylinder B expands adiabatically until the pressure of each is 1.0 atm.


a. What are the final temperature and volume of each?

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Key Concepts

Here are the essential concepts you must grasp in order to answer the question correctly.

Isothermal Process

An isothermal process occurs at a constant temperature, meaning that any heat added to the system is used to do work rather than change the internal energy. For an ideal gas, this implies that the product of pressure and volume remains constant (PV = nRT). In the context of the question, cylinder A's expansion is isothermal, so its final temperature will remain at 300 K.
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Adiabatic Process

An adiabatic process is one in which no heat is exchanged with the surroundings. For an ideal gas undergoing adiabatic expansion, the relationship between pressure, volume, and temperature is governed by the adiabatic condition, which can be expressed as PV^γ = constant, where γ (gamma) is the heat capacity ratio. In cylinder B, as it expands adiabatically, its temperature will change as it does work on the surroundings.
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Ideal Gas Law

The Ideal Gas Law, represented as PV = nRT, relates the pressure (P), volume (V), number of moles (n), the ideal gas constant (R), and temperature (T) of an ideal gas. This law is fundamental for calculating the final states of gases in both isothermal and adiabatic processes. In this question, it will be used to determine the final volumes and temperatures of both cylinders after their respective expansions.
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