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Ch 21: Heat Engines and Refrigerators
Chapter 21, Problem 21

100 mL of water at 15℃ is placed in the freezer compartment of a refrigerator with a coefficient of performance of 4.0. How much heat energy is exhausted into the room as the water is changed to ice at -15℃?

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Key Concepts

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

Heat Transfer

Heat transfer refers to the movement of thermal energy from one object or substance to another due to a temperature difference. In this scenario, heat is removed from the water as it freezes, transitioning from a higher temperature to a lower one. Understanding the principles of heat transfer is essential for calculating the energy changes involved in the freezing process.
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Latent Heat of Fusion

The latent heat of fusion is the amount of heat energy required to change a substance from a solid to a liquid or vice versa without changing its temperature. For water, this is the energy needed to freeze the water at 0℃. This concept is crucial for determining how much energy is released when the water transitions to ice.
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Coefficient of Performance (COP)

The coefficient of performance (COP) is a measure of the efficiency of a refrigeration cycle, defined as the ratio of heat removed from the cold reservoir to the work input. A COP of 4.0 indicates that for every unit of work input, four units of heat are removed. This concept is important for understanding how much heat energy is exhausted into the room during the freezing process.
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Related Practice
Textbook Question
A nuclear power plant generates 3000 MW of heat energy from nuclear reactions in the reactor's core. This energy is used to boil water and produce high-pressure steam at 300℃. The steam spins a turbine, which produces 1000 MW of electric power, then the steam is condensed and the water is cooled to 25℃ before starting the cycle again. b. What is the plant's actual efficiency?
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Textbook Question
FIGURE P21.57 shows the cycle for a heat engine that uses a gas having r = 1.25. The initial temperature is T₁ = 300 K, and this engine operates at 20 cycles per second. a. What is the power output of the engine?
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Textbook Question
Home air conditioners in the United States have their power specified in the truly obscure units of tons, where 1 ton is the power needed to melt 1 ton (2000 lb or 910 kg) of ice in 24 hours. A modest-size house typically has a 4.0 ton air conditioner. If a 4.0 ton air conditioner has a coefficient of performance of 2.5, a typical value, at what rate in kW is heat energy removed from the house?
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Textbook Question
Which, if any, of the heat engines in FIGURE EX21.22 violate (a) the first law of thermodynamics or (b) the second law of thermodynamics? Explain.
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Textbook Question
The heat engine shown in FIGURE P21.62 uses 2.0 mol of a monatomic gas as the working substance. b. Make a table that shows ∆Eₜₕ, Wₛ, and Q for each of the three processes.
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Textbook Question
At what cold-reservoir temperature (in ℃) would a Carnot engine with a hot-reservoir temperature of 427℃ have an efficiency of 60%?
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