College Physics : Laws of Thermodynamics and General Concepts

Study concepts, example questions & explanations for College Physics

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Example Questions

Example Question #1 :College Physics

Asteel sword is cooled fromtoby dipping it inof water that is at.

If the specific heat of the steel isand the specific heat of water is, what will be the temperature of the water after the steel is cooled?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

This is a simple pairing of twoequations.

We will make the left side for the steel and the right side for water. Thus:

Solving forof water yields, and certainly the water gained heat not lost it, so the final temperature of the water is

Example Question #2 :College Physics

A steel beam islong at a temperature of. On a hot day, the temperature reaches. What is the change in the beam's length due to thermal expansion given that the thermal expansion coefficient for steel is

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

We need to use the equation for thermal expansion in order to solve this problem:

We are given:

for the thermal expansion constant

for the initial length of the steel.

We need to calculatewhich is the the difference of the two temperatures.

Now we have enough information to solve for the change in the length of steel.

Example Question #3 :College Physics

What is the change in entropy forof ice initially atthat melts to water and warms to the temperature of the atmosphere at?

Latent heat of fusion for water:

Specific heat of water:

Specific heat of ice:

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:
  • We must account for two separate processes since the ice is melting and then warming. The basic formula to calculate the change in entropy at aconstant temperaturewhen the ice melts is:

Whereis the change in entropy,is the change in heat energy, andis the temperature at which the change of state for the ice occurs. Now we substitute in an equation forfor when ice melts:. Our entropy equation now becomes:

Now we plug in our known values into the equation:

Mass

Latent heat of fusion

Temperature

And we get the change in entropy for the ice melting at a constant temperature, which is

  • Now we need to calculate the change in entropy for the liquid water warming fromto.

The basic formula to calculate the change in entropy at achanging temperaturewhen the water warms is:

Next we substitute in an equation forwhen there is a temperature change, but not a change in state. That equation is:so our entropy equation now becomes:

next we integrate this equation to get:

接下来,我们代入我们的值know and solve for the change in entropy:

Final temperature of water

Initial temperature of water

Specific heat of water

Mass of water

Now we get the change in entropy for the water warming to be

We add our two entropy values together to find the total change in entropy to be:

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