COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND APPLIED TECHNOLOGY

PROBLEM SOLVING
Laboratory exercise: thermodynamics
CHATTOM, TIM S.
11/5/2018
1. The pressure gage on 𝟐. 𝟓 𝒎𝟑 oxygen tank reads 500 kPa. Determine the amount of oxygen in the
tank if the temperature is 𝟐𝟖𝟎 𝑪 and atmospheric is 97 kPa.

Solution: PV=mRT
m=PV/RT
𝑃𝑎𝑏𝑠= 𝑃𝑔𝑎𝑔𝑒 + 𝑃𝑎𝑡𝑚
=500 kPa + 97 kPa
=597 kPa
Substituting;
597 𝑘𝑃𝑎(2.5𝑚3 )
m= 𝐾𝐽
0.2598 (301 𝐾)
𝑘𝑔−𝐾
=19.08 kg answer.

2. A 400-L rigid tank contains 5 kg of air at 25°C. Determine the reading on the pressure gage if the
atmospheric pressure is 97 kPa.

Assumptions : At specified conditions, air behaves as an ideal gas.

Properties : The gas constant of air is R = 0.287 kPa.m3 /kg.K (Table A-1).
Analysis: Treating air as an ideal gas, the absolute pressure in the tank is determined from
𝑚3
𝑚𝑅𝑇 5𝑘𝑔 (0.287 𝑘𝑃𝑎. )(298 𝐾)
𝑘𝑔 − 𝑘
𝑃= = = 1069.1 𝑘𝑃𝑎
𝑉 0.4𝑚3
Thus the gage pressure is
Pgage = P-Patm = 1069.1 kPa –97 kPa
= 972.1 kPa answer.

3. A 1-m3 tank containing air at 25°C and 500 kPa is connected through a valve to another tank
containing 5 kg of air at 35°C and 200 kPa. Now the valve is opened, and the entire system is allowed
to reach thermal equilibrium with the surroundings, which are at 20°C. Determine the volume of the
second tank and the nal equilibrium pressure of air.

Tsurr =200 𝐶 = 293 𝐾

For Gas constant R=0.287 KJ/kg.K

𝑃𝐴 𝑉𝐴 500 𝑥 1𝑚3
Solution: 𝑚𝐴= =
𝑅𝑇𝐴 0.287 𝑥 298 𝐾
= 5.846 𝑘𝑔
When the valve is opened:

𝑉𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙= 𝑉𝐴 + 𝑉𝐵 = 1 + 2.21 = 3.21𝑚3

𝑚𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 = 𝑚𝐴 + 𝑚𝐵 = 5 + 5.846 = 10.846 𝑘𝑔

The final equilibrium pressure canbe obtained from the ideal gas equation applied to total volume:
𝑚𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑅𝑇𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑟 10.846(0.287)(293 𝐾)
𝑃= = = 284.13 𝑘𝑃𝑎
𝑉𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 3.21𝑚3
4. The pressure in an automobile tire depends on the temperature of the air in the tire. When the air
temperature is at 25 ◦C, the pressure gauge reads 210 kP a. If the volume of the tire is 0.025 m3,
determine the pressure rise in the tire when the air temperature in the tire rises to 50 ◦C. Also
determine the amount of air that must be bled off to restore pressure to its original value at this
temperature. Assume the atmospheric pressure to be 100 kP a.

Assumptions
a. air behaves as an ideal gas
b. the volume of the tire remains constant
Properties
From Table A-1, the gas constant for air is R = 0.287 kJ/kg · K
Part a)
The absolute pressure in the tire is
𝑷𝟏 = 𝑷𝒈 + 𝑷𝒂𝒕𝒎 = 𝟐𝟏𝟎 + 𝟏𝟎𝟎 = 𝟑𝟏𝟎 𝒌𝑷 𝒂
The final pressure in the tire can be determined using the ideal gas equation where
𝑷𝟏𝑽𝟏 𝑷𝟐𝑽𝟐
=
𝑻𝟏 𝑻𝟐
Since the volume in the tire remains constant
𝑻𝟐 𝟑𝟐𝟑𝑲
𝑷𝟐 = 𝑷𝟏 = (𝟐𝟏𝟎𝒌𝑷𝒂) = 𝟑𝟑𝟔 𝒌𝑷𝒂
𝑻𝟏 𝟐𝟗𝟖𝑲
The pressure rise in the tire is
ΔP = P2 − P1 = 336 − 310 = 26 kP a ⇐ part a answer.

Part b)
The amount of air that needs to be bled off to restore the pressure to its original value is determined as
Floow is:
𝑷𝟏𝑽 𝟑𝟏𝟎 𝒌𝑷𝒂(𝟎.𝟎𝟐𝟓𝒎𝟑 )
m1=𝑹𝑻𝟏 = 𝟎.𝟐𝟖𝟕𝒌𝑱 𝟏 𝒌𝑷𝒂.𝒎𝟑
= 𝟎. 𝟎𝟗𝟎𝟔 𝒌𝒈
( )(𝟐𝟗𝟖 𝑲)
𝒌𝒈.𝒌 𝟏 𝒌𝑱
𝑷𝟐𝑽 𝟑𝟏𝟎 𝒌𝑷𝒂(𝟎.𝟎𝟐𝟓𝒎𝟑 )
m2=𝑹𝑻𝟐 = 𝟎.𝟐𝟖𝟕𝒌𝑱 𝟏 𝒌𝑷𝒂.𝒎𝟑
= 𝟎. 𝟎𝟖𝟑𝟔 𝒌𝒈
( )(𝟑𝟐𝟑 𝑲)
𝒌𝒈.𝒌 𝟏 𝒌𝑱

The change in the mass of the air is given as

Δm = m1 − m2 = 0.0906 − 0.0836 = 0.0070 kg ⇐ part b answer.