PHYS 161

CHUKA UNIVERSITY

UNIVERSITY EXAMINATIONS

FIRST YEAR EXAMINATIONS FOR THE AWARD OF EDUCATION SCIENCE AND

BACHELOR OF SCIENCE

PHYS 161: HEAT AND THERMODYNAMICS

STREAMS: BED (SCI) and BSC TIME: 2 HOURS

DAY/DATE: FRIDAY 14/12/2018 8.30 A.M - 10.30 A.M.

INSTRUCTIONS:
 Answer Question One in Section A and any other Two Questions in Section B
 Do not write anything on the question paper
 This is a closed book exam, No reference materials are allowed in the examination room
 There will be No use of mobile phones or any other unauthorized materials
 Write your answers legibly and use your time wisely

Useful constants
i. Universal gas constant R=8.31 J K−1 mol−1
ii. Specific heat capacity of copper ¿ 385 J Kg−1 ℃ −1
iii. Specific heat capacity of water C w =4.186 J Kg−1 ℃−1
iv. Specific heat of Aluminum ¿ 900 J Kg−1 ℃ −1

SECTION A
QUESTION ONE: (30 MARKS)
a. Define the following terms as used in thermodynamics
i. Heat engine [1 Mark]
ii. Reservoir [1 Mark]
iii. An isothermal process [1 Mark]
iv. An adiabatic process [1 Mark]

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b. The length of a mercury column in a glass tube of a uniform bore is 30 mm at freezing point
of water and 280 mm at the boiling point of water. Calculate the temperature in degree
Celsius recorded by the thermometer when the length of the column is 180 mm. [3 Marks]

c.
i. State the first law of thermodynamics [2 Marks]

ii. If all the heat Q absorbed by an thermodynamic system is converted into work, what can
you say about the internal energy U of the system? [3 marks]

iii. If 300 kJ if work is done on the system and 450 kJ of heat extracted from the system ,
deduce the value of W(work), Q(quantity of heat) and change in internal energy ∆ U
[3 Marks]
d. An 0.07 kg copper ball is taken from a furnace and quickly dropped into a 0.25 kg aluminum
can containing 0.20 kg of water at 15 ℃, the temperature of the water rises to 28 ℃, what
was the original temperature of the furnace? [4 Marks]

e. Convert the following temperature units into the units indicated in brackets
i. 100 ℃ ¿) [1 Mark]
ii. 50 ℉ ( K ) [1 Mark]
iii. 5 ℉ (℃ ) [1 Mark]

f. In one complete cycle, a heat engine extracts heat Qh from a thermal reservoir, does work W
and does not eject any heat into the environment. This heat engine is impossible. Which law
of thermodynamics does it violate? Discuss your answer. [3 Marks]

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g. An ideal Carnot engine is being used as refrigerator to cool a room where some students are
working with computers. The students plus computers are generating 10, 000 watts of heat
(10,000 joules/second). The Carnot refrigerator removes heat from the room, where the
temperature is20 ℃ , and delivers it outside the building, where the temperature is 30 ℃.
How much power must be put into the Carnot refrigerator to maintain the room at 20 ℃.
[5 Marks]
QUESTION TWO:[20 MARKS]
a. Define the term ‘heat of transformation’ [2 Marks]
b. 100g of ice is taken from a deep freezer at −17 ℃ and added to a cup holding 400g of water
at 20 ℃
i. How much heat is needed to raise the temperature of the ice from −17 ℃ to 0 ℃ [2
Marks]
ii. How much heat is required to decrease the temperature of the water from 20 ℃ to 0 ℃.
[2 Marks]

iii. How much heat is required to melt all the ice to water? [3 Marks]
iv. From your answers to (i), (ii) and (iii) do you think the heat lost by the water from 20 ℃
and 0 ℃ is enough to melt all the ice? [2
Marks]
v. Calculate the amount of ice which melts ad indicate the final contents of the cup and their
masses. (assume the specific heat of the cup is negligible). [7 Marks]
c. What are three conditions necessary for heat to be transported in fluids by convection?
[2 Marks]

QUESTION THREE: [20 MARKS]

The Carnot cycle comprises sequentially (i) a reversible isothermal expansion of a working
substance in contact with a high-temperature reservoir at temperature, T 1 ,(ii) a reversible
adiabatic expansion to a final state having a temperature T 2 equal to that of a low-temperature
reservoir (iii) an isothermal reversible compression in thermal contact with the low-temperature
reservoir, (iv) a reversible adiabatic compression returning the working substance to its initial
state.

i. Sketch the above cycle on a PV indicator diagram, labelling each step (i)-(iv) [2 Marks]

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 PHYS 161

ii. What is the direction of heat transfer for each step of the cycle? [2 Marks]

iii. Starting from the Kelvin-Planck or Clausius statement of the second law of thermodynamics,
explain why no heat engine working in a closed cycle between two fixed temperature
reservoirs can be more efficient than a Carnot engine (Carnot’s theorem) [6 Marks]

iv. By considering the working substance in a Carnot cycle to be an ideal gas show that the heat
removed from the hot reservoir per cycle Q 1 and heat transferred to the cold reservoir per
cycle Q 2 are related by
Q1 T 1
=
Q2 T 2
You may use without proof that T V (γ −1 )=constant for reversible adiabatic changes of state
of an ideal gas. [10 Marks]

QUESTION FOUR: [20 MARKS]

a. A gas undergoes a series of pressure and volume changes as shown below,

Where Pf and Piis 2 x 105 and 105 Pa respectively while V iand V f is 1 m3 and 4 m 3 respectively.
i. Identify the thermodynamic processes labeled A,B,C and D [4 Marks]
ii. How much work is done by the gas along the path abc [3 Marks]
iii. How much work is done along the path cda? [3 Marks]
iv. How much heat enters the gas during the full cycle? [2 Marks]

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 PHYS 161

b. Paraffin and water are both liquids. Its requires different amount of heat to rise the temperature
of 1 kg of paraffin from 10 ℃ to 20 ℃ as required by 1 kg of water to raise the same
temperature change. Explain? [2 Marks]

c. At what temperature is the Fahrenheit scale reading equal to

i. The reading on the Celsius scale [3 Marks]
ii. Half that of the Celsius scale [2 Marks]

QUESTION FIVE: (20 MARKS]

a. One mole of monoatomic ideal gas is brought through a cycle A to B to C to D to A as
shown in the diagram. All processes are performed slowly. Respond to the following in terms
of p0 , V 0, and R.
i. Find the temperature at each vertex [2 Marks]
ii. Find the heat added to the gas for the process A to B [2 Marks]
iii. Find the work done on the gas for the process C to D [2 Marks]
iv. Find the heat added to the gas for the process D to A [2 Marks]
v. Find the change in internal energy for the process B to C [2 Marks]

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 PHYS 161

b. 25 g of −10 ℃ ice is to be converted into 150 ℃ steam (use: heat of fusion of water = 334 J/
g, latent heat of vaporization of water = 2257 J/g, specific heat capacity of ice = 2.09 J/g/℃,
specific heat capacity of water = 4.2 J/g/℃, specific heat capacity of steam =2.09 J/g/℃).
Determine the heat required to convert the 25 g of−10 ℃ ice into 150℃ steam in joules
[5 Marks]

c. 4.0 moles of argon gas is contained in a cylinder at 300K. How much heat must be added to
the gas to raise its temperature to 600 K at:
i. Constant volume [3 Marks]
ii. Constant pressure [2 Marks]
………………………………………………………………………………………………………

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