Answers of Quiz on Work and Heat

1. Two standard piston-cylinder systems are connected through a pipe. If the bigger cylinder
having a cross section of 5 cm2 creates a pressure of 1000 kPa by doing 25 J work, how
much output work the other cylinder of cross section 3 cm2 will produce? (You should
calculate the answer in Joule & write only the digits below without the unit.)

Ans: It’s simple, 25 J.

2. A pressure cooker lid has a small opening of 5 mm2 which is closed by a petcock. What
should be the mass (in gm) of the petcock which will allow boiling of water at 120◦ C
inside the cooker with an outside atmosphere at 101.3 kPa? (Here also only write the
figure, NOT the unit)

Ans: You need to find out the pressure of water at 120◦ C from any source like internet etc.
and it is ∼ 198.5 kPa.
So mass of the petcock can be calculated by the simple force equation:
Atmospheric pressure + Wt. of the petcock = Pressure for boiling water at 120◦ C

mg
⇒ 101.3 + = 198.5 ⇒ m = 49.59 gm
5 × 10−6
3. A diesel engine can be modeled as a constant-pressure system with ideal gas where heat
can be added/extracted. Consider a diesel engine at 950 K and with initial volume 75
cm3 , transforms into a volume of 150 cm3 after combustion. The engine operates with
an air-fuel ratio of 22 kg air/kg fuel. What would be the temperature (in K) after the
combustion?

Ans: The mass ration between the initial and final masses will be

Mi 22 22
= =
Mf 22 + 1 23

The final temperature can be estimated using the ideal gas equation :
     
Mi RTi Mf RTf Mi Vf 22 150
= ⇒ Tf = Ti = 950 = 1817.39 K
Vi Vf Mf Vi 23 75

4. The equation of state of a gas is given by

 
10
v P + 2 = RT
v

where, units of v and P are m3 /kmol & kPa, respectively. Now, determine the work done
(in kJ) to increase the volume of 0.5 kmol of such gas from 2 to 4 m3 , quasi-statically at
a constant temperature of 300 K.

Ans: Starting from the equation of state

 
10 nRT 10
v P + 2 = nRT ⇒ P = − 2
v v v

1
 So, work done is :
Z 2  
V2 1 1
W = P dV = nRT ln + 10 −
1 V1 V2 V1
 
3 4 1 1
⇒ W = (0.5 × 10 ) × 300 × 8.314 × ln + 10 − ≈ 864.42 kJ
2 4 2

5. Calculate the work done (in kJ) when a gas which obeys P V γ = constant relationship,
expands from 150 kPa and 0.03 m3 to a final volume of 0.2 m3 for the case of γ = 1.3.

Ans: The final pressure of the gas can be found by the relation : P1 V11.3 = P2 V21.3 with P1 =
150 kPa, V1 = 0.03 m3 & V2 = 0.2 m3 .
Which makes P2 = 150 × (0.03/0.2)1.3 ⇒ P2 = 12.73 kPa.
Work done for a gas obeying P V γ = constant (see any standard textbook for expression)

2
P2 V2 − P1 V1 12.73 × 0.2 − 150 × 0.03
Z
W = P dV = = = 6.53 kJ
1 1−γ 1 − 1.3