Engineering Thermodynamics

Chapter 2: The first law of thermodynamics

Homework Set 2
Wayne Hacker
Copyright Wayne Hacker 2009. All rights reserved.

Homework set 2

Copyright Wayne Hacker 2009. All rights reserved.

Contents
1 The first law of thermodynamics
1.1

Work, power, torque, and energy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

1.1.1

Single and Multi-step processes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

1.1.2

Power and refrigeration cycles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Homework set 2

1
1.1

Copyright Wayne Hacker 2009. All rights reserved.

The first law of thermodynamics

Work, power, torque, and energy

Problem 1. (conservation of M.E.)

Ricky, the 5 kg snowboarding raccoon, is on his snowboard atop a frictionless ice-covered quarter-pipe with
radius 3 meters (see figure at right). If he starts from
rest at the top of the quarter-pipe, what is his speed at
the bottom of the quarter-pipe? For ease of calculation,
assume that g = 10 m/s2 . Round your answer to the
nearest 0.1 m/s.
(a) 7.0 m/s
(c) 8.5 m/s
(e) None of these

x


Raccoon: 5 kg
3m
3m

(b) 7.7 m/s

(d) 9.3 m/s

Problem 2. (moment of inertia)

A disk-shaped flywheel of radius R, thickness h, and uniform density is rotating with
an angular velocity rad/s. Using the definition for momentum of inertia
Z
r2 dV
,
I

show that
Iflywheel = R4 /2
and the kinetic energy of the flywheel is given by
KEflywheel = I 2 /2 .

Problem 3. (kinetic and potential energy)

Two different masses m1 and m2 are dropped from rest at the same initial elevation.
Ignoring the air resistance, show that the particles have the same speed when they hit
the ground.

Homework set 2

Copyright Wayne Hacker 2009. All rights reserved.

Definition 1. The drag force on a blunt body moving through air at a subsonic high
speed is given by
1
Fdrag = Cd As air v 2 ,
2
where Cd is known as the coefficient of drag, As is the shadow area of the object, air is
the air density, and v is the velocity of the object.
Problem 4. (power/drag)
Find the power needed by a vehicle to move at a constant speed v against the force of
gravity. Assume the vehicle is moving at a fast enough speed for the above drag-force
formula to apply.
Problem 5. (power/torque)
The driveshaft of a certain alternator is turning at 300 RMP. It is driven by a belt running
from a pulley with a radius of 0.15 m. The net force applied by the belt on the pulley is
2000 N. Determine the torque applied by the belt on the pulley (in Nm) and the power
transmitted (in kW).
Problem 6. (work done by a gas)
Consider a gas in a closed piston-cylinder assembly that is undergoing a constant-pressure
process. The mass of the gas is mgas = 14 kg, the pressure is P = 5 bar, and the initial
specific volume is vi = 51 m3 /kg. If the work done by the piston on the system is W = 15
kJ, what is the final volume of the gas?
Problem 7. (work done by a gas)
Consider a gas in a closed piston-cylinder assembly. The gas is expands under a polytropic
process with P
V = const from an initial state with pressure Pi = 500 kPa and volume

V i = 1/10 m3 to a final state with pressure Pf = 100 kPa. Determine the work done by
the system on the environment. Also, draw the P -V diagram for the process.
Problem 8. (First law of thermo)
Each line in the table below corresponds to a closed system undergoing a process. Using
the formula for the first law of thermodynamics Ef Ei E = Q W determine the
missing component values in each row.
Process
a
b
c
d
e

Q
W
Ei
Ef
+50 20
+50
+50 +20 +20
40
+60
90
+50
+50
+20

+20
0
100

Homework set 2

Copyright Wayne Hacker 2009. All rights reserved.

Problem 9. (first law related rate form/time-dependent systems)

Consider a gas in a closed piston-cylinder assembly. The system of gas undergoes a
process during which there is energy transfer from the system by heat at a constant rate
of 10 kW into the environment, and where the work done on the system by the piston
depends on time according to the equation
(
0 < t 1 hours
= 8t
P=W
8
t > 1 hours
is in kW.
where t is time (in hours) and W

Heat transfer modes

Problem 10. (conduction)
A 0.2 meter-thick flat concrete wall separates two rooms of different temperatures. The
temperature of the two rooms is held steady and it sets up a steady, linear, temperature
distribute throughout the thickness of the inside of the wall. If the energy transfer rate,
via heat conduction, through an area of one-square-meter of wall is 0.15 kW, then what
is the temperature difference across the wall?

Problem 11. (convection)

A flat surface having an area of 2 m2 and a temperature of 350 K is cooled convectively
by a gas at 300 K. Using data from the table given in the book, determine the largest and
smallest heat transfer rates, in kW, that might be encountered for both free and forced
convection.

Problem 12. (radiation)

A 1-cm-radius surface of a circular disk at temperature T = 1000 K emits thermal
radiation at a rate 15 W. What is the emissivity of the surface? Assuming constant
emissivity, plot the rate of radiant emission, in W, for surface temperatures ranging from
0 to 2000 K. The Stefan-Boltzmann constant is = 5.67 108 W/m2 K4 .

Homework set 2
1.1.1

Copyright Wayne Hacker 2009. All rights reserved.

Single and Multi-step processes

Problem 13. (single-step processes)

A gas contained within a closed, frictionless, piston-cylinder assembly is shown in figure
1 below. We take the positive x-axis pointing upward. Initially, the piston face in contact
with the gas is at x = 0, and the spring exerts no force on the piston (i.e., the spring
is in equilibrium neither stretch nor compressed). As a result of heat transfer, the gas
expands, raising the piston until it hits the stops. At this point the face is located at
x = Xstop , and the moment the piston touches the stops the heat source is turned off. This
ends the process. The force exerted by the spring on the piston as the gas expands varies
linearly with x according to Hookes law: |Fspring | = k|x|, where the spring constant k
is assumed to be known. The other known parameters are: gravity g, the atmospheric
pressure Patm , the mass of the piston mp and the surface area of the bottom and top of
the piston Ap .
(i) Derive a formula for the initial pressure of the gas.
(ii) Derive a formula for the work done by the gas on the piston.
(iii) If the specific internal energies of the gas at the initial and final states are known to
be ui and uf , respectively, calculate the heat transfer Q over this process.

Figure 1: A closed, frictionless, piston-cylinder assembly with a spring and stabilizers

attached to it. Initially the spring is uncompressed. As the gas is heated, the gas
expands and the rising piston begins to compress the spring. The piston continues to
rise until it hits the stoppers.

Homework set 2

Copyright Wayne Hacker 2009. All rights reserved.

Background: In this problem we are going to model a process that occurs naturally
in the atmosphere. Our system will be a small parcel of air. A parcel of air is the fluid
equivalent to a point particle in mechanics. The collection of air molecules is considered
to be much smaller than the characteristic length scales occurring in the problem, but
at the same time large enough to contain enough molecules so that the collection of
molecules behaves as a continuous fluid, not a discrete swarm of molecules. Basically, we
assume that there are enough molecules in the parcel of fluid that the collection behaves
as a mini thermodynamic system. Parcels of air are conceptual constructs. They are
fundamentally open systems: they hold on to their thermodynamic properties, but not
their molecules! Molecules continuously enter and leave the parcel of fluid, but since
molecules are not unique, we assume that the ones leaving the parcel are similar to the
ones entering the parcel. Parcels of air are fundamentally open systems.
Under the right conditions, we can use a closed system to model an open system. One
such process is in the case of strong atmospheric convection where a parcel of air is lifted
so quickly that it doesnt have a chance to come into equilibrium with its surroundings
(the environment). In this case the heat transfer between the parcel and the environment is negligible. Such a process with negligible heat transfer is said to be adiabatic
(impassable) without heat transfer. In this case, the only way for the parcel of air to
either gain or lose energy is through work due to pressure on the imaginary boundary
of the air parcel. Well use a perfectly-insulated, closed, frictionless, piston-cylinder assembly to model our air parcel. This apparatus does everything we want: it isolates the
gas contained in the system, it does not allow heat transfer, and it only allows work to
transfer energy to the gas via work done by pressure. Thus, once again the concept of
a closed, frictionless, piston-cylinder assembly has come in as a handy tool for studying
the behavior of thermodynamic systems.
Problem 14. (first law of thermo and potential energy)
Consider a gas of mass mgas in a perfectly-insulated, closed, frictionless, piston-cylinder
assembly, where we take the gas to be our system. The apparatus is lifted from groundlevel to a height y = h in the atmosphere. We assume that the apparatus is lifted so slowly
that the system is in a state of quasi-equilibrium throughout the entire process. This can
be accomplished by initially accelerating the apparatus from rest to a negligibly small
velocity. This small time interval over which the system is accelerated can be neglected.
Thus, the acceleration over most of the apparatuss path can be approximated as being
identically zero.
During this process, the system experiences a change in external pressure from the environment, since pressure decreases with height. Since the apparatus is insulated, the
system is isolated, so there is no heat transfer between the system and the environment.
Thus, the only mode of energy transfer to or from the system is through work done by
pressure.
Assuming that the system of gas is in equilibrium with its environment at ground level,
derive a formula for the change in the internal energy of the system as a function of
height.

Homework set 2

Copyright Wayne Hacker 2009. All rights reserved.

Problem 15. (multi-step processes)

Air in a closed piston-cylinder assembly undergoes two processes in succession:
Process 1-2: The first process is a polytropic compression with n = 1.3. State
1 has pressure P1 = 100 kPa, and specific volume v1 = 0.04 m3 /kg. State 2 has
specific volume v2 = 0.02 m3 /kg.
Process 2-3: The second process is a constant-pressure process. The final state 3
has specific volume v3 = v1 .
Sketch the processes on a P -V diagram and determine the work per unit mass of air, in
kJ/kg.

1.1.2

Power and refrigeration cycles

Problem 16. (hot body, cold body)

For each of the following systems identify what plays the role of the hot body and what
plays the role of the cold body for the appropriate schematic of the power cycle and
refrigeration cycle.
(a) Window air conditioner
(b) Window heat pump
(c) Steam engine of a train

Problem 17. (power)

For a power cycle with heat transfer Qin = 50 kJ and Qout = 35 kJ. Determine the work
done over one complete cycle Wcycle (in kJ) and the thermal efficiency .

Problem 18. (refrigeration)

For a refrigeration cycle with Qout = 500 kJ, and a coefficient of performance = 1.5,
determine Qin and Wcycle (in kJ).

Homework set 2

Copyright Wayne Hacker 2009. All rights reserved.

Problem 19. (analyzing cycles)

The following table gives data (in kJ) for a gas (the system) in a closed, frictionless,
piston-cylinder apparatus undergoing a thermodynamic cycle. The cycle consisting of
four processes in succession. None of the processes involve a significant change in the
systems kinetic or potential energy, so these effects can be neglected. The first-law then
reduces to U = Q W . Use this information to complete the table and determine if
the cycle is a power cycle or refrigeration cycle.
Process
1-2
2-3
3-4
4-1

U
+600

700

0
+500

W
600
1300
700

Problem 20. (analyzing cycles)

A gas in a closed, frictionless, piston-cylinder assembly undergoes a thermodynamic cycle
consisting of three processes:
process 1-2: A polytropic process P
V = constant, where the gas undergoes a compression
and the system has no change in internal energy: U12 U2 U1 = 0. Also,
State 1: P1 = 1 bar = 100 kPa,
V 1 = 1.6 m3 ,
State 2:
V 2 = 0.2 m3 .
process 2-3: Constant pressure expansion of the gas from to volume
V 2 to volume
V3 =
V 1.
process 3-1: Constant volume, U31 = U1 U3 = 1000 kJ
Assumption: We can neglect any change in the systems kinetic and potential energy. In this
case, the 1st law of thermodynamics reduces to the equation U = Q W .
(a) Find the work done over process 2-3: W23 .
(b) Find the heat transfer Q23 for process 2-3, in kJ.
(c) Determine if the cycle is a power cycle or a refrigeration cycle.