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You are exactly correct that monatomic gases have only translational DOF, and not rotational or vibrational. Monotonic gases like helium have specific heat capacities of $C_V = \frac 3 2R$ and $C_P = …

The definition of an enthalpy value itself, $U+PV$, doesn't have much meaning. The reason it is useful is when discussing a change in enthalpy: $$\Delta H = \Delta U + \Delta (PV)$$ Internal energy, t …

It would be far more efficient and feasible, if you had access to a black hole, to convert infalling matter into radiant energy via the accretion disk and/or a Penrose Process. For the best case of a …

I have actually done this very experiment, starting with a sealed, permeable vessel (Teflon) filled with helium at 1 atm surrounded by air at 1 atm. What happens is over several days the pressure fal …

Entropy, to the extent it plays a role here at all, will push for everything to be equally mixed and evenly distributed everywhere. So it will push for equal dirt in the water, on the cloth, everythi …

The Karman line of 100 km, as you might guess, is a fairly arbitrary legal definition rather than one based in physics or meteorology. But it is roughly the altitude where a plane would have to trave …

The specific heat ratio constant comes from the equation for a polytropic process: $$PV^k = \rm{constant} $$ $$ \implies {P_1V_1^k=P_2V_2^k}$$ This means an expansion or compression process, Where $k$ …

The flowing does not change the freezing point of water, but it can change how difficult it is for the water to actually reach that temperature. If the air temperature is at, say, $–5 \rm °C$, the gro …

I believe you are confusing "force of gravity" with "pressure." The gravitational pull (or local acceleration $g$) is indeed zero at the center of the Sun, and a maximum elsewhere in the Sun (whereve …

Newton's 3rd law only describes what I consider to be the same force that acts on two objects, not two different forces. And forces not acting on the same object can never sum or cancel each other. Th …

The real formula for entropy change is: $$dS= \frac {\delta Q} T + \delta S_{irr} $$ where the second term captures changes due to irreversible processes – mixing, free expansion, friction, vorticity …

The potential energy belongs to the Earth-object system. The system's potential energy decreases while its kinetic energy (and then thermal energy from air drag and then ground impact) increases. Sinc …

You can find the latent energy required to condense 1 mol of water from vapor to gas, find the mols of water in a $\rm cm^3$ of air as a function of temperature and relative humidity, and then get the …

Fugacity = the pressure of an ideal gas with the same chemical potential as the real gas

If you have a pyramid made of spheres, like cannonballs: the First Law says that the total number of cannonballs will never change. The Second Law says that over time the pyramid structure will fall a …