# Tag Info

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I have a different idea a bout reversibility. Just imagine that the piston moves at any pace you want because you have a lot or rigid wires perpendicular to the piston motion that stops the piston from moving unless you retract them and let it pass one step further. Retracting the wires do not require any work (assuming the piston do not have horizontal ...

1

based on casual observation, believes that coffee will cool faster than ordinary hot tap water Let's revisit the "casual observation" part. Are the initial conditions the same? Water from a kettle will usually be hotter than from a coffee machine. And we tend to do things to coffee that we don't do to water, like add 10% of another liquid (milk) at low ...

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It is because of the second law of thermodynamics. There are many irreversible processes that can be used to heat something. It is the natural flow of things because entropy will increase in isolated systems, and much of the internal energy of objects can be dissipated as heat (and this heat used to heat something that is colder). However, to cool something ...

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Heat is simply released to the surroundings during freezing. Freezing occurs because at a temperature below the freezing point, solid has a lower Gibbs free energy than liquid. The plots of G vs T is mathematically derived. At the freezing point, $G_{solid} = G_{liquid}$ There is no change in Gibbs free energy in a reversible freezing process. Therefore, ...

2

What makes water boil/evaporate is the thermodynamic concept derived from the first and second law of thermodynamics. You can read this article to find out the derivation from entropy to the Clapyeron equation. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clausius%E2%80%93Clapeyron_relation#Derivation_from_state_postulate $$\frac{\mathrm{d} P}{\mathrm{d} T} = \frac ... 0 The only temperature that would make sense in your question is the temperature of the thermal distribution of the photons (if the photon gas is thermalized). So let us assume we have a photon gas at equilibrium. Its chemical potential is \mu=0 because photons have no ground state. Consider now the atom. One of the characteristics of an atom is that the ... 1 For stars (which have huge amount of mass and density), gravity is taken to be responsible for the heat increase. because heat and volume (thus density) thus gravitation of a (massive) star, are related. This is exactly one of the factors that make nuclear fusion (in stars) possible. The two effects thermodynamics (and kinetic energy) and gravity are ... 2 Consider a satellite in orbit about the Earth and moving at some velocity v. The orbital velocity is related to the distance from the centre of the Earth, r, by:$$ v = \sqrt{\frac{GM}{r}} $$If we take energy away from the satellite then it descends into a lower orbit, so r decreases and therefore it's orbital velocity v increases. Likewise if we ... 5 So a while ago I did a little project where I grabbed a "standard solar model" from this paper, which gives me some information that's useful for actually making an estimate. (Unsurprisingly the link given to download the data has changed in the last ten years; I haven't sleuthed to see whether the data is still publicly available.) Only about 1.5% of the ... 3 To add to Whelp's Answer. Even though the$$\bar{d}Q=T\,dS$$does not hold in an irreversible process, it still gives us something general. Consider a thermodynamic system linked to a system of reservoirs and which can only exchange heat and nothing else with the reservoirs. Let's call the thermodynamic system an engine for our convenience. Then the engine ... 0 At the end of your question you ask if there are other ways to express the temperature of the Sun in terms of energy. This is probably not exactly what you're looking for, but from Wien's law \lambda_{\rm max}T=b (\lambda_{\rm max} is the peak wavelength of the Sun's \simblackbody spectrum, b is Wien's displacement constant) and ... 1 Fun, So you are asking about the thermal energy content of the sun? If we assume that all the hydrogen is dissociated. (single atoms) Then each atom has three degrees of freedom and carriers 3/2 kT of energy. So count up the number of atoms at each temperature.... That will work until the atoms ionize. Then there will be equal energy in all the ... 0 The sun is more than a cloud of hot gas that is radiating energy. The sun also has energy stored in hydrogen "fuel" that will be "burned" through nuclear fusion into helium, releasing a lot of energy. The sun is 2 \times 10^{30} kg, and about 70% hydrogen, so around 1.4 \times 10^{30} kg of hydrogen or 8 \times 10^{56} protons. Let's estimate that ... 0 Convective heat transfer is an engineering topic and is subject to much uncertainty. Heat transfer coefficients are normally obtained from correlations based on experimental data and backed up with theoretical analysis. If you have no other source of information, I suggest you start by taking a look at Thermopedia : http://www.thermopedia.com/content/652/ 3 This relation is not true for general processes. For a closed system, the general relation is \delta Q \leq TdS, as is illustrated by the Clausius Theorem (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clausius_theorem). Another way of writing it is dS=\delta Q/T + dS_{irr} where  dS_{irr} is the entropy change due to irreversibilitiy in the closed system ... 2 Ever heard of the cosmic microwave background? The CMB is a relic from when the universe became "opaque" - when, as Wikipedia says, protons and electrons combined to form neutral atoms. These atoms could no longer absorb the thermal radiation, and so the universe became transparent instead of being an opaque fog. So photons decoupled and the CMB was ... 1 Interesting question. I would have thought that if you were aware of the exact number of energy states and the populations thereof, you could apply boltzmann statistics to each of the levels in order to fit an appropriate temperature to the population in each state. This temperature, if comparable amongst the included levels, would therefore require that the ... 0 Since the question is not constrained in any way, the answer is yes, it is possible. Is it "realistically" possible, no. To make it possible, all you have to do is concentrate the moonlight (optically,or electrically) until you have the energy required to reach the ignition point of the material. what makes it not realistic is the size, cost, and/or time ... 1 In thermodynamic equilibrium, the solidification process can be tracked using the phase diagram of water and salt. One example (from wikipedia) is: It is fairly straightforward as a binary phase diagram. Above 0C, adding NaCl to water results in complete dissolution until somewhere above 26.3 wt.%. At that point, trying to stir more in will result in ... 1 Wikipedia Intensive and extensive properties By contrast, an extensive property is one that is additive for independent, noninteracting subsystems.[1] The property is proportional to the amount of material in the system. For example, both the mass and the volume of a diamond are directly proportional to the amount that is left after cutting it ... 3 The cold air does flow down, but instead of flowing out of the fridge it is sucked into a channel, and pumped back out at the top of the fridge. 0 T should be the actual temperature at which the water evaporates. That is, the temperature at the interface between the air and the water, not the boiling point. This is simply because dU = TdS + pdV - \sum_i \mu_i dN (where T is most definitely the temperature of the system), or by rearranging,$$ dS = \frac{1}{T}dU -\frac{p}{T}dV + ...

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Specific entropies ($\mathrm{kJ\,kg^{-1}\,K^{-1}}$): \begin{array}{lrll} & \mathrm{^\circ C} & \text{liquid} & \text{vapor} \\ \text{Triple point} & 0.01 & 0 & 9.155 \\ \text{Normal boiling point} & 100. & 1.307 & 7.355 \\ \text{Critical point} & 374.15 & 4.430 & 4.430 \\ \end{array}

1

The inherent idea is, from that equation $$I = \exp (\frac{eU}{k_B T})$$ if you plot $(\ln I)$ versus $U$, that would be a straight line (of the form $y=mx$), with a slope $$\alpha = \frac{e}{k_B T}$$ That's all you have to do in the experiment, use least square fitting to find an accurate value of $\alpha$ and then find the Boltzmann constant using the ...

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ΔS universe = ΔS system +ΔS surroundings . hotosystem I of plants has a quantum efficiency of 0.99 and an energy efficiency of >0.96. The system may be considered a canonical ensemble which consists of a Thermal bath in which the particles are suspended and monochromatic light emitted ny an incandescent lamp with a definite Tr. Please note that the lamp ...

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Internal Energy = Heat - Work, or U = Q - W. By definition an adiabatic process has constant heat, so when finding the rate of change of each in a process by taking the time derivative: dU = dQ(0) - dW Q goes to zero, and U = W.

1

There's no violation of the second law here. You have a system that is out of thermal equilibrium. That black bodies absorb and radiate is the driving mechanism that tries to move this system toward thermal equilibrium. By way of analogy, suppose you are from a southern clime and take a trip at this time of year to a northern clime. You, as a southerner, ...

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Not all the radiation from the outer shell reaches the inner shell. When you take into account the intensity distribution of radiation from the outer shell (Lambertian distribution, i.e. $\propto\cos\theta$) you will see that the amount of radiation for the inner to the outer shell is the same as in the other direction. No violation of the second law.

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There was a time, when trains worked on coal. What sort of energy, do you think, it was? - Thermal. There's also solar energy, which is, if you think thoroughly, thermal energy. You turn heat (received by a solar panel) into an usable energy source. However, as I know, solar energy produces so little electricity, it's not worth all the effort. The way, I ...

2

To turn thermal energy into useful work completely one would need a thermal bath at the temperature of absolute zero. This is explicitly forbidden by the third law of thermodynamics. The best one can do is given by the efficiency of the (theoretical) Carnot cycle: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnot_cycle. Th efficiency of the Carnot cycle only depends on ...

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It is possible up to the Carnot limit, which is never 100%. In particular, the Carnot limit is higher if the temperature before extracting is higher. But you could only hit 100% if the temperature could reach infinity, which it can't.

1

To answer your second question, yes, condensation typically requires nucleation. Supersaturated vapours like the one you describe are the basis of the cloud chambers that used to be used as particle detectors. The energetic particles passing through the vapor would ionize molecules, and these ions would act as nucleation sites.

2

The concept of the storage heater is very common in Britain: they usually include a phase change medium which means that a relatively small mass of material can contain a lot of heat without becoming very hot (the latent heat of fusion provides a "thermal cushion" where the medium can give off a lot of heat at a constant temperature, keeping the rate of ...

1

UPDATED: I now think my previous answer was wrong, because the set up would be equivalent to the following question: Is a black body sphere inside a black body shell hotter than the shell? Just change the question to add a carefully crafted lens that focuses all the radiation into the sphere (you could make the shell as large as you want), which of course ...

1

I don't think you need to overthink this so much. Mechanical equilibrium in this context basically means that from a macroscopic point of view, all forces are balanced; this usually also means that the system's parts are at rest, though a system in uniform motion could be considered in mechanical equilibrium, I guess. The point that the authors are trying ...

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Thanks for clarifying the question, but I'll restate it here in my words, since comments may disappear: Given a closed constant volume containing water and a head space, why is the thermodynamics of the water not affected by pressurizing the head space with an ideal gas? Lets simplify by stating I'll treat the water as an incompressible fluid. Adding ...

4

The heat that makes a filament lamp glow is derived from electrons bashing into the lattice of atoms in the filament and transferring energy to them. The kinetic energy of the electrons becomes vibrational energy of the lattice, and this is exactly what heat is. However the interaction of electrons with the lattice is also what resistance is, and ...

2

Water does not, in general, help extinguish a fire. Typical fires, however, can be successfully attacked using water alone, as it can cool the fuel at the base of the fire or generate a vapor barrier between atmospheric oxygen and the hot fuel. Water can accelerate liquid hydrocarbon fires by dispersing fuel. Water can generate explosive gaseous mixtures ...

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To sustain fire, it is true that you need the tri-factor of oxygen,fuel, and heat. However extinguishing fire through the use of water, is different than one would think. Indeed, water "sucks" energy in order to change its phase, and thus reduces the heat factor, but the real crux lies in the water expansion properties. Water is heavier than hot air, and ...

0

This is valid for ideal gas whose molar number is constant $n$. Why? When a fluid changes volume, the equation $$dU =dQ - pd V$$ is obeyed. Formally dividing by $dT$ we obtain $$\frac{dU}{d T} = \frac{d Q}{dT} - p\frac{d V}{d T}.$$ If we now consider only processes where $V$ remains constant, the relation $$\frac{dU}{d T}\bigg|_{V=const.} = \frac{d ... 41 To sustain a fire, you need three factors: fuel, oxygen, and heat. Take away one of the three and the fire goes out. Water removes heat. Most of this "removing heat" is the evaporation - roughly 540 calories / gram, so 7x more heat than is needed to get water from 20°C to boiling (with a tip of the hat to @Jasper for pointing out erroneous value in earlier ... 1 The Wien displacement law gives the maximum of a function, so the way to compute it is to start with the Planck function in frequency domain,$$ B(\nu,T)=\frac{8\pi\nu^2}{c^3}\frac{h\nu}{e^{h\nu/kT}-1} $$Take the derivative with respect to \nu, set it equal to zero and solve for \nu. You'll likely have to use some numerical methods (e.g., iterative ... 0 First law of thermodynamics states that the change in internal energy, dU, of a system is equal to \delta Q + \delta W. The only way to separate the contributions from the two is to arrange the experiment so that one of the quantities is zero. If the change is adiabatic so that there is no heat exchange, \delta Q = 0 and hence dU = \delta W. On the ... 4 As mentioned in the other answers the etendue theorem rules this out for a system of mirrors and lenses. However, I think it's important to note that simple thermodynamic arguments are insufficient for the reasons given below. I will answer the question using mirrors rather than lenses as it makes the physics clearer. Suppose we have a massive mirrored ... 4 It is not possible because of conservation of etendue. This is based purely on geometry, not really a law of physics in that sense. No guarantees regarding quantum effects etc., but in the realm of ray optics it can't be done. Basically, given any source of light radiating from finite surface to half space, you can never concentrate the entire emitted ... 13 If you use complicated routes redefining "focusing" towards generating the temperature, yes. Physicists at CERN's Large Hadron Collider have broken a record by achieving the hottest man-made temperatures ever - 100,000 times hotter than the interior of the Sun. Scientists there collided lead ions to create a searingly hot sub-atomic soup known as ... 2 Because what you are doing is a flow process, with mass inflow and no mass outflow, you need to use the thermodynamic equation: dU_{cv}={m_{in}d}{H}_{in}-{m_{out}d}H_{out}+\delta Q-\delta W_{shaft} If you insulate your air cylinder well enough, \delta Q = 0. Assuming that your air cylinder does not deform, \delta W = 0. Since you are filling your ... 1 A quick back-of-the-envelope calculation using the Stefan-Boltzman law for a sphere with radius r$$ P = \sigma T^4 4\pi r^2 $$lets me conclude that you would need to focus 1\,\textrm{m}^2 of sunlight onto a sphere with a radius smaller than  2.8\,\textrm{mm} to get its temperature above 6000\,\textrm{K}. How difficult is it to build such a ... 5 The thing is, even if you concentrate all the black-body radiation at temperature T_0 on a portion of matter A, this matter itself will, at least, radiate the same way all the energy when its temperature matches that of the black-body. So even assuming A is a black-body, i.e. absorbs all radiation received and reflects none, it will itself emit energy ... 0 The energy change a gas is expressed by:$$dE = TdS - pdV +\mu dN Admittedly, the process of filling a cylinder is rather complicated because several variables in this equation vary, and the way you fill it will influence their behaviour, but you can see that the result will give a production of heat. When you fill the cylinder you are connecting it to ...

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