Understanding Isothermal And Adiabatic Processes Of Perfect Gases

1. Why can the initial expansion process be considered as adiabatic?

2. How well the results do obtained compare to the expected result? Give possible reasons for any difference.

3. Comment on how the rate of change affects the temperature of the air inside the vessels?

The procedures for isothermal and adiabatic are both involved in the expansion process of perfect gases. There is a change in the system in the case isothermal process as the temperature remain constant. The occurrence of the adiabatic process takes place in absence of temperature which is transferred from the system to its surroundings. The adjustment of system time to the temperature of the reservoirs comes as a result of the slow transfer of energy thus making temperature remains constant.

This particular lab aims at acquiring knowledge based on the expansion and processes of perfect gases. The labs also aim at finding the ratio of the volume, heat ratio and also the capacity by using the process of Isothermal

Two interconnected standing floor vessels, the operation of the smaller one takes place in a vacuum and the larger one is pressurized. An electronically connected air pump which is linked to the top of every vessel together with openable valves is also used in this experiment. The valves can assist in evacuation and pressurize air and sensors in the vessels are used in the constant monitoring of temperature and pressure of air found in the vessel.

The light insulation assists in the reduction of heat transfer to its surrounding since the vessels are inelastic and vibrant plastic. The content of the vessel also quickly goes back to its ambient room temperature because of the vessels structure. The capacity of the displaced vessel is approximated to be 9 litres and pressurized capacity to be 23 litres.    

Determination of the subject mentioned above is done using a two-step process in the form of experiment (Roy, 2007, p. 98).

     1^st Step: Reversing Adiabatic expansion from original pressure P_s to a halfway pressure P_i

                               {P_s, V_s, T_s} > {P_i, V_i, T_i}                                                     (1) 

2^nd Step: The temperature to be returned to its initial value T_s at a volume which is constant V_i

                                      (P_i, V_i, T_i) = (P_f, V_i, T_s)

In the two process, the ratio of heat capacity is                                                    (2)

                                                                 (3) 

At a pressure and temperature of T_s, the  can be estimated to be the ratio of heat capacity.

 6^th Step: Use a snap action to quickly for opening and closing of the valves to permit a small amount of air to get their way out of the vessels.

 7^th Step: Note down P_i. (Exact prompt figure).                                                                                             8^th Step: The contents of the vessel to be permitted to go back to their ambient temperature then put down the closing pressure P_f. after permitting the content from the vessel to go back to ambient temperature

Objective

 9^th Step: By redoing process six and eight, the workout can be redone at diverse in the vessel original pressure (P_f flattering Ps for the succeeding run).

Table 1. The values of pressure for Test A

Argument

The reason why minimization and elimination of the transfer of heat in the adiabatic process are discussed below. The transfer of heat does not occur during expansion and this demonstration of this was exhibited when the opening of the valve occurs within a short period of time thereby permitting removal of a substantial amount of air. The closing of valves the bring to an end the expansion and as a result of this, a minimum value of pressure drop is realized. The independent pressure drop realized which does not affect the heat transfer shows that the expansion can be deliberated to be adiabatic (Prasad, 2008, p. 45).

The pressurizing of a single vessel is done primarily and permits firmness at ambient temperature.

 1^st Step: Measuring and recording of the atmospheric pressure using a barometer.                                                                           

 2^nd Step: Turn off the ball valves V5and V3 and Valve V1 while opening the V4.                                                                            3^rd Step: The air pump is turned on to pressurize the huge vessels. When roughly 30 kN/m2, is attained by pressure P then, air pump to be switched off Valve V 4 closed.                                                                                                     4^th Step: Pose until stabilization in pressure P for the large vessels is achieved. Stay while waiting for pressure P in the large vessel to stabilise (Sato, 2006, p. 234)                                                                                                   5^th Step: The primary pressure P_s. to be recorded (Kenny, 2010, p. 45).                     
6^th Step: Confirm the closure of the needle valve V5 fully, then turn on isolating valve V6. The air should be allowed to leak from large to small vessels by simply opening of Valve faintly. The V5 to be adjusted to allow falling of pressure P gradually and having no alteration in T1 or T2 (if there is quick air flow then there will be a change in T1 and T2

A slight opening of Valve 5 to reduce the exercise duration in case there is an increase in the pressure of small vessels and a decrease in the pressure of large vessels.

The temperature and pressure for the content in the vessels to be allowed to stabilize afterward the final pressures P_f can be recorded (Singh, 2007, p. 54).

The exercise to be repeated four diverse original pressures in the huge vessels. Illustration of the pressure readings which occurred is in table 2.

Apparatus

Table 2. The Test B pressure values

The outcomes obtained was nearly corresponding to the outcomes predicted with only alteration of 1% which resulted from influences for example error from human and absence of insulation. The valve opening and closing frequency and adiabatic process are possibly influenced by poor insulation (James, 2009, p. 169).

Reason for considering the process of expansion to be adiabatic

The lack of heat transfer taking place between the atmosphere and the system is simple meaning of adiabatic and normally temperature change is normally linked to pressure change but since there was no high pressure. The change in temperature can be quickly negligible when the valve V1 allows the pressure to go through them. In agreement with these, the initial growth was adiabatic (Arora, 2005, p. 123). 

Comparison between the results obtained with the results which were expected to give likely explanations for any dissimilarity

A different outcome is obtained in every run and this ought to apply to the other group in my class who carried out the similar experiment. The errors occurring in the results can be fixed by carrying out many different results to increase accuracy. A higher value of Cp/Cv was recorded in table one by running 7 which is 2.06315kPa while the smallest figure 0.52090kPa was given by running 5 and the remaining results are close to the actual value of Cp/Cv. Human possibility errors are involved in this experiment, for example, reading display and diverse surrounding conditions which cause a dissimilar percentage error (Adwera, 2009, p. 78). 

Remark on how the temperature of the air in the vessel is affected by the change in rate.

Ever reading is recorded every second by setting up transient pressure response on the computer. IO to take records. Once the system is at equilibrium, then a slow drop until consistency and unstable readings are realized from the data. As a result, ambient situation, there no much change in temperature over time. The pumping of air in and out of the pressure chamber will increase as a result instability in pressure sensor more than temperature sensor.

In the experimentation above, the high drop in pressure more than the drop in temperature abandon the change in temperature over time (Singh, 2007, p. 56).

Conclusion

From the results, it can be concluded that the results that were obtained from the laboratory and theoretical results were not far off when compared. The process of gas expansion has been confirmed to follow Gay-Lussac and Boyle laws which relate the conditions and characteristics for example volume, temperature, and pressure. The results acquired were steady as illustrated by numerous analyses on pressure.

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Arora, D., 2005. Thermodynamics. s.l.:Wiley.

James, D., 2009. Kinetic Theory and Thermodynamics. s.l.:Gakken.

Kenny, R., 2010. Comprehensive Elments of Mechanical Engineering. s.l.:Sanoma.

Prasad, M., 2008. An Introduction to Energy Conversion. s.l.:Adventure Works Press.

Roy, B., 2007. Fundamentals of Classical and Statistical Thermodynamics. s.l.:Scholistic.

Sato, N., 2006. Chemical Energy and Exergy. s.l.:Cambridge University Press.

Singh, O., 2007. Applied Thermodynamics. s.l.:OLMA Media Group.