First Law of Thermodynamics
First Law of Thermodynamics
First Law of Thermodynamics
dQ dE dW
Work of expansion
dW is the work performed by the system. As heat is
added, a gas that is free to expand will perform work
on its surroundings against the pressure of the
external gas. Imagine a volume of gas contained in a
cylinder – heat added forces the gas to expand and to
push against a piston. We calculate the work performed
in the following manner:
external pressure
dl
dW=pd
and the specific heat will depend on how the added heat
is partitioned. There are an infinite number of ways to
partition the heat, but it is useful to consider two
special cases:
dQ
Cp
dT p cons tan t
dQ
Cv
dT V cons tan t
dQ = dE
dE = Cv dT
dQ = Cv dT + pd
dQ = CpdT - dp
Note:
1) This alternative form is obtained by differentiating
the equation of state and substituting for d . We
do not need to know the details at this point but
students are welcome to attempt the proof.
3
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