Information

Heat engine is a device that uses heat to do work. It uses heat transfer as the source of energy for doing work. The
essential problem is how much of the heat taken in can be converted into work.
2. The first law of thermodynamics states that the change in the internal energy is equal to the heat absorbed by the
gas minus the work done by the gas. The second law of thermodynamics states that not all of the heat can be
converted into work, rather it is rejected.
3. For an engine operating in a cycle, the first law requires the following:
Work out = heat in – heat out
The second law of thermodynamics states that it is impossible to make the heat out because we know that not all the
heat energy can be converted into work, some must be discarded. This discarded heat is known as thermal waste.
This is why no engine can be 100% efficient.

Sample Problem
A heat engine absorbs 8,500 J of energy during the operation from a heat source. It performs work, and discards
4,800 J of heat to a cold reservoir. Find the following:
a. how much work is performed
b. the engine’s efficiency
c. change in internal energy of this engine
Problem Solution
Given: Qin=8,500 J Qout= 4,800 J
A: Wkout= Qin -Qout
= 8,500 J – 4,800 J
= 3, 700 J
B: Eff= Wkout X100%
Wkin
= 3,700 J X100

8,500 J
= 43.53%
C: Change of Internal Energy is 0 since the change in internal energy for an engine operating in a cycle is zero.

Exercises!

Complete the table.

Wk out (J) Q in ( J) Q out ( J) Engine Efficiency
7,000 8,000
15,250 13,435
20,269 23,788