Suppose an ideal gas is being compressed by a piston inside a cylinder in an adiabatic compression process.
Does the gas closest to the piston heat up first as the gas molecules collide with the piston moving forward, and then this heat is transferred to the rest of the gas in the cylinder? Or does the gas uniformly heat up with no thermal gradients present?
Any answers would be much appreciated!
Alex
p.s. I would of thought that if a small volume of gas is considered inside the middle of the cylinder- away from the piston, call it dV. This volume does not initially change, and as dW= pdV, no work is done upon it initially so why should it heat up? The only time it changes volume would be when the piston advances to the boundary of dV. The conclusion of this thought process being that a temperature gradient would be present in the cylinder, with the gas closest to the piston being much hotter.