Skip to main content
Ch 20: The Second Law of Thermodynamics

Chapter 20, Problem 20

A Carnot engine is operated between two heat reservoirs at temperatures of 520 K and 300 K. (b) How much mechanical work is performed by the engine during each cycle?

Verified Solution
Video duration:
4m
This video solution was recommended by our tutors as helpful for the problem above.
661
views
Was this helpful?

Video transcript

Everyone. Welcome back in this problem. We have an engine operating on the basis of a cardinal cycle. Okay. It's used for a particular function. It's going to run between two thermal sources with temperatures 600 Calvin and 400 Calvin. And each cycle, 2500 jules is going to be transferred from the higher temperature source. Okay. And we are asked to find the amount of work w that can be obtained from the engine per cycle. Okay, so let's think about this. We're trying to find work. Okay, We recall that work can be written as the difference of the absolute values of the quantities of heat. Okay, So we get Q. H minus the absolute value of QC. Okay, now Q. H. Is going to be the quantity of heat transferred from the high temperature source and QC is a quantity of heat transferred to the cold reservoir. Okay. Alright. So, let's see from this problem. We're given that 2500 jules is transferred from the high temperature source. Okay, So we know that Q. H. There's going to be 2500 jewels but we aren't told any information about QC. Okay, so in order to find the work w that we need we have to find this value of QC. All right, well, we're also giving information about temperature. Okay, So we are told that the temperatures are 600 Calvin and 400 Calvin. Okay, so T. H. The temperature of the hot reservoir. The high temperature reservoir is 600 Calvin And TC. The low temperature is going to be 400 Kelvin or the temperature of the cold reservoir. Okay so let's recall that we have a relationship between the ratio of these quantities of heat and the ratio of the temperature we can write that Q. C. The absolute value divided by the absolute value of Q. H. Is equal to the absolute value of T. C. Divided by the absolute value of th. Okay so the ratio of the quantity of heat is the same as a ratio of the temperatures. This is going to give us Q. C. Okay we multiply by Q. H. And we get 2500 jewels Times 400 Kelvin Divided by Calvin in the unit of Calvin cancel we're going to be left with the absolute value of Q. C. is equal to 6.67 jewels. So this is our value of Q. C. That we needed to find in order to find the work. W. Okay so let's give ourselves a little bit more room and then we can go ahead and find that work that we were looking for. So W. Is equal to the absolute value of Q. H minus the absolute value of QC. Which is equal to 2500 jewels -1666.67 jewels. Which gives us a work of 833.33 jewels. Okay that is the work we were looking for. Let's go back up to our answer choices and we are going to find That this corresponds to answer. Be okay. The amount of work that can be obtained from the engine per cycle is jewels. Thanks everyone for watching. I hope this video helped see you in the next one.
Related Practice
Textbook Question
A box is separated by a partition into two parts of equal volume. The left side of the box contains 500 molecules of nitrogen gas; the right side contains 100 molecules of oxygen gas. The two gases are at the same temperature. The partition is punctured, and equilibrium is eventually attained. Assume that the volume of the box is large enough for each gas to undergo a free expansion and not change temperature. (a) On average, how many molecules of each type will there be in either half of the box?
427
views
Textbook Question
CALC A lonely party balloon with a volume of 2.40 L and containing 0.100 mol of air is left behind to drift in the temporarily uninhabited and depressurized International Space Station. Sunlight coming through a porthole heats and explodes the balloon, causing the air in it to undergo a free expansion into the empty station, whose total volume is 425 m^3. Calculate the entropy change of the air during the expansion.
556
views
Textbook Question
A Carnot engine is operated between two heat reservoirs at temperatures of 520 K and 300 K. (a) If the engine receives 6.45 kJ of heat energy from the reservoir at 520 K in each cycle, how many joules per cycle does it discard to the reservoir at 300 K?
1428
views
Textbook Question
A Carnot engine is operated between two heat reservoirs at temperatures of 520 K and 300 K. (c) What is the thermal efficiency of the engine?
374
views
Textbook Question
A Carnot refrigerator is operated between two heat reservoirs at temperatures of 320 K and 270 K. (b) If the refrigerator completes 165 cycles each minute, what power input is required to operate it?
453
views
Textbook Question
A Carnot refrigerator is operated between two heat reservoirs at temperatures of 320 K and 270 K. (c) What is the coefficient of performance of the refrigerator?
366
views