CHAPTER 3 HEAT ENGINES
Questions and Problems
1. A typical room temperature is 68°F. What are
the corresponding Celsius and Kelvin
temperatures?
2. The basic equation of carbon burning is
C+O2→CO2 + 95 kilocalories per mole (1 mole of
carbon is 12 grams). From this equation
calculate the number of Btu from burning one
ton of coal, assuming it is pure carbon.
3. BONUS Starting from the Principle of
Energy Conservation, explain the reasoning that
gives us the expression for thermodynamic
efficiency, η, in terms of the temperatures Tc
and Th. You may assume the Carnot relation,
Qc/Qh=Tc/Th, for an ideal heat engine. What is
a heat engine?
4. An inventor claims to have developed a
wonderful new heat engine that operates with a
relatively cool (and therefore nonpolluting)
flame at 150°C and discharges waste heat to
the environment at 20°C. His promotional
literature advertises that 45% of the fuel
energy is converted into useful work. Calculate
the maximum efficiency that can be expected
for such an engine and compare it to the
inventor's claim.
5. BONUS Because individual natural gas-fueled
water heaters in homes do not have air pollution
control devices, it has been proposed that
water in homes be heated with electrical energy
generated at a distant power plant that is
equipped with effective air pollution control
devices. The power plant burns natural gas and
produces electrical energy with 40% efficiency;
the electric transmission line between the plant
and the home loses 10% of the electrical energy
as heat. All that remains goes into heating the
water. In contrast, the water heater gets only
60% of the fuel energy into the water. Which
scheme uses more natural gas to heat a given
quantity of water?
6. Why are fossil fuel-burning electric power
plants situated near lakes or rivers or provided
with cooling towers?
7. BONUS List the relative virtues of gasoline,
diesel, and turbine types of internal combustion
engines.
8. BONUS This morning, a 1−kW electric heater
was switched on for one hour. Trace back as far
as you can the various forms the energy had
before it was used for heat. Assume a coal-
fired power plant. Now trace the path the
electric energy will take after it has been used
for heat. What will be its ultimate destiny?
9. An electrically powered heat pump can deliver
more energy than it draws from the power line
without violating the Principle of Energy
Conservation.
Explain how this can happen.
10. How many tons of CO2 are produced for each
ton of methane burned?
11. BONUS A heat engine in each cycle extracts
50,000 Btu of thermal energy and rejects (or
releases) 20,000 Btu of thermal energy. How
many Btu of work are done each cycle? What is
the efficiency of this engine?
12. Show that the combination of a 40% efficient
power plant with a heat pump having a
coefficient of performance of 4.0 would
actually deliver 60% more heat energy than if
the fuel were used directly to heat a house
with 100% efficiency.
13. BONUS Considering the above problem, in
the interest of conserving the fossil fuel
energy resource and reducing pollution, should
it be unlawful to burn fossil fuels directly in the
home or factory for heat?
14. A heat engine operating between a geothermal
steam source at 210°C and a river at 20°C
achieves an efficiency of 20%. What
percentage of its theoretical maximum
efficiency is it achieving?
15. A refrigerator has an energy efficiency ratio
(EER) of 10. For each unit of input energy (W),
 drawn from the electric power company, how 6. If an ordinary household refrigerator is left
many units of heat energy (Qc) are removed operating in a closed, perfectly insulated room
from the cold box, and how many are delivered with the refrigerator door standing open, after
to the room (Qh)? a long time, the temperature in the room will
______
16. A heat pump delivers 8 Btu of heat energy to a a. go up
house for each 6 Btu of heat energy that it b. go down
draws from its low temperature reservoir. c. remain constant
What is its coefficient of performance?
d. fluctuate

Multiple Choice Questions

7. A temperature of 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit
1) For an ideal heat engine, according to Carnot:
corresponds to ___ degrees Celsius and ___
a) ThTc=QcQh
degrees Kelvin.
b) TcTh=QcQh
a. 346, 73
c) ThQc=TcQh
b. 73, 346
d) TcQc=QhTh
c. 393, 120
2. BONUS For a heat pump in normal operation: d. 120, 393
a. Qh > Q c e. 328, 55
b. Qc > Qh f. 55, 328
c. W = Qh g. 310, 37
d. W > Qh h. 37, 310

3. BONUS One hundred degrees Fahrenheit is 8. BONUS The maximum efficiency of a heat
the same as ___ degrees Kelvin. engine that has steam injected into it at 850°C
a. 38 and that rejects the steam at 225°C is ______
b. 68 a. 74%
c. 273 b. 56%
d. 311 c. 44%
d. 20%
4. One gram molecular weight of octane, C8H18, has
a mass of ___ grams. 9. What is the Carnot efficiency for a heat engine
a. 8 that has steam injected into it at 1000°C and
exhausted at 450°C?
b. 18
a. 86%
c. 26
b. 21%
d. 114
c. 67%
e. 146
d. 43%
f. 224

10. For an ideal heat engine operating between

5. How many tonnes (metric ton) of coal must be
thermal reservoirs at Th = 1000 C and Tc =
burned per day by an electric power plant that
110°C, the efficiency is ___
delivers 500 MWe continuously if the
a. 10%
efficiency is 30%?
b. 29%
a. 1412
c. 70%
b. 4650
d. 90%
c. 8560
e. 92%
d. 9416
f. 95%
g. 98%
 h. cannot be determined from information CO2 are produced for each ton of methane that
given is burned?
a. 2.75
11. A typical efficiency for a coal-burning electric b. 3.7
power plant is ______ c. 12
a. 5% d. 36
b. 10% e. 44
c. 25% f. 93
d. 33%
e. 66% 17. Which one of the following is not a heat engine?
a. an internal combustion auto engine
12. A heat engine_____ b. 100 horsepower electric motor
a. pumps energy "uphill" c. a 2000 horsepower jet aircraft engine
b. is identical in function to a heat pump d. an 800 pound diesel truck engine
c. can produce work from a temperature e. a Saturn V rocket
difference
d. can occasionally violate the first law of 18. BONUS The Principle of Energy Conservation
thermodynamics is
e. is only an idea not yet achieved a. frequently violated by practical devices
b. one of the laws of thermodynamics
13. BONUS Compare an ideal heat pump operating c. an exception to Carnot efficiency
between Th = 100 °F and Tc = 0 °F to one
d. correct only on the Kelvin temperature
operating between Th = 100 °F and Tc = 45 °F. In
scale
the second case, the Coefficient of
e. correct only on the Celsius temperature
Performance is _____ times larger than for
scale
the first.
f. a violation of the laws of
a. 0.9
thermodynamics
b. 1.8
c. 3.6 19. The Coefficient of Performance for a good heat
d. 7.2 pump is ______
e. 14.4 a. a negative number
f. 18 b. equal to the number 1.0
c. larger for smaller temperature
14. SKIP difference
d. smaller for smaller temperature
15. BONUS The total rate of energy use in the
difference
United States is now such that each person has
e. not a numerical quantity
the equivalent of about _____ horsepower
f. meaningless
working continuously.
a. 0.015
20. A power plant having an efficiency of 30%
b. 0.15
burns 7200 tonnes (1 tonne is 1000kg) of coal
c. 1.5 per day. The coal produces 2 × 104 Btu/kg.
d. 15 What is the electric power output of the plant
e. 150 in kilowatts?
f. 1500 a. 2.75×103
b. 7.25×102
16. The methane in natural gas burns according to c. 6.25×107
CH4 + 2 O2 → CO2 → 2 H2O. How many tons of
d. 5.72×106
 e. 6.75×104
f. 5.27×105

21. Cogeneration ______

a. is a vague dream not yet proven to be
practical
b. would increase a nation's demands on
fuel resources
c. might work for a small factory but not
for a large institution
d. offers considerable promise of reducing
a nation's energy waste
e. will probably increase thermal pollution
of rivers
1C 2A 3D 4 D (8*12 + 18*1)
5 B/C 500e6 J/s (1BTU/1055J)(1ton/2e7BTU)
(3600s/h)(24h/d) / 30% = 6825 tons 6
A 7H
8 B Carnot Eff = 1 - Tc / Th = 1 - (273+225) /
(273+850) = 56%
9 D Carnot Eff = 1 - Tc / Th = 1 - (273+450) /
(273+1000) = 43%
10 C Carnot Eff = 1 - Tc / Th = 1 - (273+110) /
(273+1000) = 70%
11 F 12 C 13 B 6.78/3.73 = 1.8
COP(heater) = Qh / Qh – Qc
COP(heater)1 = 373 / 373 – 273 = 3.73
COP(heater)2 = 373 / 373 – 318 = 6.78
14 skip 15 D
98e15 BTU/y (1y/365)(1d/24h)(1h/3600s)(1055J/btu)(1hp/746W)
16 A CH4=16AMU;CO2=44AMU 1ton (44/16) = 2.75 tons
17 B 18 B 19 C 20 F 21 D
20 7.2e6 (2e4btu/kg)(1d/24h)(1h/3600s)(1055J/btu)(.3)

Problems
2 Coal = 12 AMUs; CO2 = 44 AMUs
1ton (44/12) = 3.667 tons
4 Carnot Eff = 1 – TCold / Thot
Carnot Eff = 1 – (273+20) / (273+150)
31% is max, untrue statement
9 Need to consider open and closed systems
Physics tries to deal with closed system (account for
everything) to solve for unknowns.
Heat pumps “steal” energy from outside of the
system, thus can easily go way above 100% of
the closed system
10 CH4 = 16 AMUs; CO2 = 44 AMUs
1ton (44/16) = 2.75 tons
11 QH = 50 kBTU; QC = 20 kBTU
Eff = Work / Qh
Eff = (50 – 20) / 50 = 60%
12 COP = Qhot / Work Q = 1.6*fuel, so 60% better
4 = Q / (fuel*40%) than directly burning
14 Carnot Eff = 1 – TCold / Thot
Carnot Eff = 1 – (273+20) / (273+210) = 39.3%
20% / 39.3% = 50% of theoretical max
15
EER = Qc / Power Work = Qh – Qc
10 = Qc / 1 1 = Qh – 10
Qc = 10 BTU/hr Qh = 11
16 COP(refrig) = Qc / Work
COP(heater) = Qh / Work
COP(heater) = Qh / Qh – Qc
COP(heater) = 8 / 8 – 6 = 4.0