CHE495: Two Laws, One Class

Assignment #3

Due: 1 PM, September 30, 2016

Problem 1
(25 Points)
An ice cube is dropped into a hot cup of coffee. As the ice cube melts, the coffee cools down. What
happens to the entropy of the coffee, the entropy of the ice cube, and the entropy of the universe? Discuss
your results in terms of microscopic interactions.

Problem 2
(25 Points)
An isolated chamber with rigid walls is divided into two equal compartments, one containing gas at 600 K
and 1 MPa and the other evacuated. The partition between the two compartments ruptures. Compute the
final T , P , and S for
(A) an ideal gas with CP /R = 7/2.
(B) steam (use the tables...).

Problem 3
(25 Points)
A new device is on the market which will revolutionize the energy industry, patent pending. This device has the ability to produce 2000 J/min of work using just a single mole per minute of an ideal gas
(CP /R = 7/2). The gas enters at 500 K and 2 bar and leaves at 350 K and 1 bar, requiring an undisclosed
amount of heat from a reservoir at 300 K for operational reasons. What are your thoughts? Should we start
buying stock?

Problem 4
(35 Points)
Suppose we have a cylindrical vessel (V = 2 m3 ) filled with helium at 1 bar and 300 K, and we plan to
pressurize the vessel to 10 bar using a large external source of helium gas (maintained at 300 bar and
300 K). We would like to model this process as simple as possible, so we assume that the initial helium
inside the tank forms a layer (Layer A) which does not mix with the added gas (Layer B), and Layer A is
compressed from 1 bar to 10 bar by Layer B. At the end of the process, the system will contain two layers
of helium, both at 10 bar; however, the temperatures are not necessarily equal. Assuming that there is no
heat transfer between the gas layers, no heat transfer to the vessel during the operation, and helium behaves
as an ideal gas with a constant CP = 20.9 J/molK,
(A) calculate the final temperature in Layer B, and
(B) determine the entropy change of the universe after this pressurization process.
(C) If no additional gas is allowed to enter, and the system (consisting of both layers) was thermally
isolated, what is the maximum work that one could obtain for reversible mixing of the two layers to
some final homogeneous temperature Tf ? What would the final temperature and pressure be in the
tank?