Question

Consider an ideal gas of 0.2 mole of argon atoms with an initial volume of 0.8 liter (8*10-4 m 3 ) and a temperature of 300 K.

a) The gas is thermally isolated and allowed to expand adiabatically to a final volume of 1 liter (10-3 m^3 ). How does the entropy of the gas change? Please provide your reasoning.

b) Find the final temperature, ?? , of the gas after its adiabatic expansion.

c) With the gas at the temperature ?? that you calculated in part (b), it is now brought into contact with a large thermal reservoir at 300 K and equilibrates to this temperature at constant volume. How much does the internal energy of the gas change during this process?

d) Find the change in the total entropy due to the process described in part (c). Note that the total entropy includes the entropy of the gas and of the environment (i.e. the thermal reservoir).

Answer 1