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Basic Thermodynamics: Quasistatic Adiabatic Process

Physics Asked on August 18, 2021

I’m going through the exercises in a Thermodynamics book, just to revise and build my intuition. Right now, I’m working on:

Show that for a quasistatic adiabatic process in a perfect gas, with
constant specific heats:

$$PV^gamma = left[text{constant}right]$$

with $gamma = frac{C_P}{C_V}$

where $P$ is pressure, $V$ is volume, and $C_V$ is the constant-volume heat capacity.

I’m not looking for the answer, just for a hint (I’m stuck and want to find the solution myself).

So those are my thoughts:

  • perfect gas means: $PV = RT$, ($R$ is the universal gas constant)
  • adiabatic means: $mathrm{d}Q = 0$, ($Q$ for heat)
  • since there is no heat exchange, the process is reversible
  • reversible means: $mathrm{d}W = -P , mathrm{d}V$, ($W$ is for work)
  • heat capacity is defined as $C_text{V} = left( frac{mathrm{d}Q}{mathrm{d}T} right)_V$, respectively $C_text{P} = left( frac{mathrm{d}Q}{mathrm{d}T} right)_text{P}$

If I draw a $PV$ diagram for this situation, it looks like this:
$hspace{175px}$.

Now I want to show that $PV^gamma=left[text{const}right]$ by going from $text{State 1}$ to $text{State 2}$ in the $PV$ diagram.

I’ve started like this:
$$
W ~=~ -int_{V_1}^{V_2}P , mathrm{d}V ~=~ -int_{V_1}^{V_2} frac{RT}{V} mathrm{d}V ~=~ RT ln{left(frac{V_2}{V_2}right)}
$$

This leads me into the wrong direction though. I thought about using $R = C_P – C_V$ here, but it doesn’t seem to work. Any suggestions?

Please just give me a hint, not the solution.

3 Answers

You have to equal the expression for $mathrm{d}E$ given by the first law of thermodynamics with the expression that you get if you isolate $mathrm{d}E$ from $C_V=left(frac{partial E}{partial T}right)_V$. Then integrate both sides. With this you should be able to reach the final answer.

A more detailed explanation can be found here. Note that the solutions in the link are also done by me, and Studydrive is a free-access website.

Answered by physicshelp on August 18, 2021

From the first law of thermodynamics, you have:

$$Delta U = q + w$$

As $q$ is zero, $$mathrm{d}U = -P , mathrm{d}V$$

Now put $mathrm{d}U = C_v , mathrm{d}T$ (molar heat capacity at constant volume).

Therefore, $$C_v , mathrm{d}T = -P , mathrm{d}V$$

Using the ideal gas equation, substitute $P$ by $frac{RT}{V}$.

$$-frac{RT}{V} mathrm{d}V = C_v , mathrm{d}T$$

Integrating the equation, you get $$ begin{align} int_{V_1}^{V_2} -frac{RT}{V} mathrm{d}V & = int_{T_1}^{T_2} C_v , mathrm{d}T [10px] frac{RT}{V} ln left(frac{V_1}{V_2}right) & = C_v left(T_2 - T_1 right) end{align} $$

Answered by Mitchell on August 18, 2021

The mathematical condition you're missing is work = -change in internal energy (which you mentioned as dQ = 0).

dU is ideally written as n*Cv(dT).

take n=1 (for simplicity), equate PdV to -dU, bring in R = Cv (gamma - 1) (same thing as you mentioned), and integrate it. It will be of a logarithmic form with a ton of constants.

Hope this helps. Good Luck!

Answered by Red Undavairs on August 18, 2021

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