The thermally insulated vessel contains an ideal gas of molecular mass M and ratio of specific heat . It is moving with speed v and is suddenly brought to rest. Assuming no heat is lost to the surroundings, its temperature increases by :
\(\frac{1}{2}M{\nu ^2} = {C_v}.\Delta T\)
\(\frac{1}{2}M{\nu ^2} = \frac{R}{{\gamma - 1}}.\Delta T\)
\(\Delta T = \frac{{M{\nu ^2}(\gamma - 1)}}{{2R}} = \frac{{(\gamma - 1)M{\nu ^2}}}{{2R}}\)
This problem involves a thermally insulated vessel containing an ideal gas. The vessel is moving with speed and is suddenly brought to rest. Since the vessel is insulated, no heat is exchanged with the surroundings. We need to find the increase in temperature of the gas due to this sudden stop.
Key Concept: When the vessel is brought to rest, its kinetic energy is converted into internal energy of the gas. Because the process is adiabatic (no heat loss) and the vessel is rigid (assuming constant volume), this energy transfer results in a temperature increase.
Step 1: Identify the energy conversion.
The initial kinetic energy of the vessel (and the gas inside, since they move together) is given by: where is the total mass of the gas. This kinetic energy is entirely converted into internal energy of the gas, .
Step 2: Relate the change in internal energy to temperature change.
For an ideal gas, the change in internal energy at constant volume is given by: where is the number of moles, is the molar specific heat at constant volume, and is the change in temperature.
Step 3: Equate the energy change.
Since the kinetic energy is converted to internal energy:
Step 4: Express in terms of given parameters.
The total mass can be written as , where is the molecular mass. Substituting: The cancels out: So,
Step 5: Relate to and .
For an ideal gas, the molar specific heat at constant volume is related to the gas constant and the ratio of specific heats by: Substituting this into the equation for :
Final Answer: The temperature increases by .
First Law of Thermodynamics: . In this adiabatic, constant volume process, and , so for the system, but the external work done to stop the vessel increases its internal energy.
Internal Energy of an Ideal Gas: , so .
Specific Heats: and , which leads to .