FC312E

PHYSICS
Theme: 8 Hour: 1 Thermodynamics
Module Learning Outcome Academic Literacy
Use ideal gas law Use theoretical concepts to analyse real-world
practices. 
Apply in real-world contexts Develop ability to read, comprehend and express
mathematical arguments
Use subject-specific vocabulary effectively.
 Introduction to Thermodynamics
 Hour 1 Ideal Gas Law

 Hour 2 Kinetic Theory of Gases

 Hour 3 First Law of Thermodynamics

 Hour 4 Second Law of Thermodynamics

 Hour 5 - 7 Worksheets

 Hour 8 Thermodynamics Quiz

 Self study and homework
 Read the lecture notes as part of your studies.
 Additional information can be found in chapters 14 and 15
of the module textbook: Advanced Physics for You.
 Complete all worksheets set in class as homework.
 There are video tutorials and additional explanations of
concepts and calculations here:
 https://www.khanacademy.org/science/physics
 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkNRdK0q5KZssogiS--R4pQ
 http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/index.html

 There are virtual lab simulations here:

 https://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulations/category/physics
 Reading List
 J.S. Walker, “Physics”, Pearson Education
International (2013) [ISBN 0 13 227019 6]

 K. Johnson, S. Hewett, S. Holt and J. Miller,

“Advanced Physics For You”, Nelson Thornes
(2015) [ISBN 978 0 7487 5296 6]
IDEAL GAS LAW
 Outline (Hour 1)
• Ideal gas
• Pressure vs Volume vs Temperature
• Boltzmann constant
• Equation of state
• Avogadro’s number and moles
• Atomic and molecular mass
• Periodic table
• Isotherms and Boyle’s law
• Charles’ law
• Measuring absolute zero
Pressure, Volume, Temperature
 Gases
• Gases can be pictured
microscopically as atoms bouncing
around but their macroscopic
properties are easier to work with:
• Pressure: the force atoms exert over a
certain area in the container ( ), measured
in Pascals, .
• Volume: The 3D space occupied by the
gas, measured in .
• Temperature: macroscopic quantity that
ultimately relates to how much kinetic
energy the atoms have at microscopic
level, measured in Kelvin, .
 Ideal Gases
• Gases are the easiest state of matter to describe, as
all ideal gases exhibit similar behavior.
• An ideal gas is one that is thin enough, and far away
enough from condensing, that the interactions
between molecules can be ignored.
Pressure
 Ideal Gas Law
• The idealised relationship between pressure , volume
and temperature is the ideal gas equation:

• Sometimes this is written slightly differently as:

Where:
 Moles
• In Chemistry and Physics a unit called a
mole is used.

• We call this special number of atoms in a

mole is Avogadro’s Constant,
• So in general if we have moles in a
substance the number of molecules/atoms is:
 Molar Mass
• The atomic or molecular mass of a substance is the
mass, in grams, of one mole of that substance. For
example,
• Helium:
• Copper:
• Furthermore, the mass of an individual atom is given
by the atomic mass divided by Avogadro’s number:
 Molar Mass
• The molar mass of a substance is the mass of 1
mole (i.e. the mass of molecules of the
substance)
• So if we have moles of a substance with molar
mass then we can get the total mass of those
moles by doing:
 Boyle’s Law
• If we take the ideal gas law from earlier and
divide both sides by the formula is:

• So for an ideal gas. From this, we get a few

important ‘laws’.
• Boyle’s law says that if an experimentalist
can fix the temperature of a gas as the
pressure and volume change then:
Boyle’s Law for Ideal Gases
Boyle’s law, which is
consistent with the ideal
gas law, says that the
pressure varies inversely
with volume. These
curves of constant
temperature are called
isotherms.
 Boyle’s Law: Example
A bike pump of volume is used to force air through a
valve into a bike tyre of volume
which contains air at initial pressure

Calculate the pressure of the air after on stroke of the

pump, assuming there’s no temperature change.
 Boyle’s Law: Example
We want to use Boyle’s law:

To get we must add the volume of the bike

pump as that much air goes into the tyre, so:

Now Boyle’s law gives the final pressure:

 Charles’ Law for Ideal Gases
• Since:

• for an ideal gas, we can see that there is a similar law to

Boyle’s law when a gas is changed at constant pressure.
• This is called Charles’ Law written as:

In other words:
 Charles’ Law for Ideal Gases
Charles’s law, also
consistent with the
ideal gas law, says
that the volume of a
gas increases with
temperature if the
pressure is constant.
MEASURING ABSOLUTE ZERO
with a constant-volume gas thermometer

Pgas=Patm+rgh

V  const N  const
PV  Nk BT
P Nk B
  const
T V
If the volume of a gas is constant, its
pressure is linearly proportional to its
P  const T temperature
 Ideal Gases
If the volume of an ideal
gas is held constant, we
find that the pressure
increases with
temperature:
 Ideal Gases
If the volume and temperature are kept constant,
but more gas is added (such as in inflating a tyre or
football), the pressure will increase:
 Ideal Gases
If the temperature is constant and the volume
decreases, the pressure increases:
 Ideal Gases
In this photograph, the
balloon was inflated at
room temperature and
cooled with liquid
nitrogen. The decrease
in volume of the air in
the balloon is obvious.