2008-2009 Physics Olympiad Preparation Program

University of Toronto
Problem set 3: Thermal Physics
Due: 2009 February 2

1. Today it is your turn to go out and get coffee for your research group. It’s a cold January day
(-20°C) and it takes 5 minutes to walk to the neighbourhood coffee shop. One of your group
likes a large with double cream (75 ml). The coffee shop serves its coffee at 50°C and uses
recyclable cups made from paper with thickness 2 mm and heat conductivity 0.04 W m-1 K-1.
The large cup has a usable volume of 0.5 liter and a surface area of 316 cm2.
a) What is the rate of energy loss from the coffee cup as soon as you step out into the cold?
b) Estimate the temperature of the coffee after 1 minute of walking back to work. Assume
that coffee has the same heat capacity as water 4190 J kg-1 K-1
c) Would the coffee end up warmer if you added the cream in the coffee shop or after you
return to work?

2. In an experiment, you need to collect and identify an unknown gas in a thermally insulated
chamber with volume 1.00 litre. The chamber can be detached from the other parts of the
experiment so that it can be weighed on a sensitive balance.
a) In order to calibrate and check the sensitivity of the system, you first evacuate the chamber
to a pressure (vacuum) of 10-6 bar and bake it at a temperature 450 K to remove any water
vapour. Assuming that the remaining gas is air and that the ideal gas laws will provide a
usable approximation, what is the mass of air remaining in the chamber?
b) As a further check, you fill the chamber with argon gas to a pressure of 2 bar. When the
temperature of the chamber is 300 K, the chamber weighs 418.207 g. Calculate the tare
weight of the chamber.
c) After re-evacuating the chamber to P= 10-6 bar and collecting the unknown gas for several
days, a pressure of 100 mbar has accumulated. The chamber, at temperature 280 K
weighs 415.562 g. Identify the unknown gas.

3. You are designing a new house and want to make it as energy efficient as possible and so are
investigating the use of a heat pump. The Coefficient of Performance of a heat pump COP is
given by
∆Qh Th
COP = ≤ = maximum theoretical efficiency
W Th - Tc
where ∆Qh is the heat transferred to the hot side of the pump, W is the energy used by
the pump and Th and Tc are the temperatures (K) at the hot and cold side of the pump
respectively. The best heat pump you can find has a COP of 50% of the theoretical
maximum.
Physics Olympiad Preparation 2008-09 Problem Set 3 Page 2

a) If the house has an external surface area of 560 m2 and is insulated with R20 insulation
calculated the power required for the heat pump motor to keep the house at 21°C when the
temperature outside is -20°C.
Note: the units for the R-value of the insulation are in fr2•h•F°•BTU-1 (1 BTU = 1054 J)
b) another option is to use an in-ground source of heat rather than the outside air for the input
to the heat pump. Assuming that the minimum temperature of the ground source is 0°C
calculated the saving in motor power.

4. Bi-metallic strips are often used as simple thermostats. They consist of two thin strips of
metals with differing coefficients of thermal expansion, bonded together along their length.
At T = T0, the strip is straight, but as the temperature changes from this value, the strip curves
due to the unequal expansion of the two components. For a strip mad up of iron (α = 12 x
10-6 K-1) and zinc (α = 31 x 10-6 K-1), calculate the bending angle for a strip 100 mm long and
1 mm thick (including both layers). If you wanted to improve on the sensitivity how would
you change the design?