PaRT 1. THE SECOND LAW OF THERMODYNAMICS l.A. Background to the second Law of Thermodynamics AW 23-31(see IAW for detailed VwB&s references); VN Chapters 2, 3, 4 1-A. I Some Properties of engineering Cycles; Work and Efficiency As motivation for the development of the second law, we examine two types of processes that concern interactions between heat and work. The first of these represents the conversion of work into heat. The second which is much more useful. concerns the conversion of heat into work The question we will pose is how efficient can this conversion be in the two cases R Block on rough surface Ⅴ iscous liquid Resistive heating Figure A-1: Examples of the conversion of work into heat Three examples of the first process are given above. The first is the pulling of a block on a rough horizontal surface by a force which moves through some distance Friction resists the pullin After the force has moved through the distance, it is removed. The block then has no kinetic energy and the same potential energy it had when the force started to act. If we measured the temperature of the block and the surface we would find that it was higher than when we started (High temperatures can be reached if the velocities of pulling are high; this is the basis of inertia welding. The work done to move the block has been converted totally to heat The second example concerns the stirring of a viscous liquid. There is work associated with the torque exerted on the shaft turning through an angle. When the stirring stops, the fluid comes to rest and there is(again) no change in kinetic or potential energy from the initial state. The fluid and the paddle wheels will be found to be hotter than when we started, however The final example is the passage of a current through a resistance. This is a case of electrical work being converted to heat, indeed it models operation of an electrical heater. All the examples in Figure A-l have 100% conversion of work into heat. This 100% conversion could go on without limit as long as work were supr plied. Is this true for the conversion of heat into work? To answer the last question, we need to have some basis for judging whether work is done in a given process. One way to do this is to ask whether we can construct a way that the process could result in the raising of a weight in a gravitational field. If so, we can say"Work has been done".It may sometimes be difficult to make the link between a complicated thermodynamic process and the simple raising of a weight, but this is a rigorous test for the existence of work One example of a process in which heat is converted to work is the isothermal(constant temperature)expansion of an ideal gas, as sketched in the figure. The system is the gas inside the internal energy is a function of temperature only, so that if the temperature is constant for some c chamber. As the gas expands, the piston does work on some external device. For an ideal gas process the internal energy change is zero. To keep the temperature constant during the expansion1A-1 PART 1 - THE SECOND LAW OF THERMODYNAMICS 1.A. Background to the Second Law of Thermodynamics [IAW 23-31 (see IAW for detailed VWB&S references); VN Chapters 2, 3, 4] 1.A.1 Some Properties of Engineering Cycles; Work and Efficiency As motivation for the development of the second law, we examine two types of processes that concern interactions between heat and work. The first of these represents the conversion of work into heat. The second, which is much more useful, concerns the conversion of heat into work. The question we will pose is how efficient can this conversion be in the two cases. Figure A-1: Examples of the conversion of work into heat Three examples of the first process are given above. The first is the pulling of a block on a rough horizontal surface by a force which moves through some distance. Friction resists the pulling. After the force has moved through the distance, it is removed. The block then has no kinetic energy and the same potential energy it had when the force started to act. If we measured the temperature of the block and the surface we would find that it was higher than when we started. (High temperatures can be reached if the velocities of pulling are high; this is the basis of inertia welding.) The work done to move the block has been converted totally to heat. The second example concerns the stirring of a viscous liquid. There is work associated with the torque exerted on the shaft turning through an angle. When the stirring stops, the fluid comes to rest and there is (again) no change in kinetic or potential energy from the initial state. The fluid and the paddle wheels will be found to be hotter than when we started, however. The final example is the passage of a current through a resistance. This is a case of electrical work being converted to heat, indeed it models operation of an electrical heater. All the examples in Figure A-1 have 100% conversion of work into heat. This 100% conversion could go on without limit as long as work were supplied. Is this true for the conversion of heat into work? To answer the last question, we need to have some basis for judging whether work is done in a given process. One way to do this is to ask whether we can construct a way that the process could result in the raising of a weight in a gravitational field. If so, we can say “Work has been done”. It may sometimes be difficult to make the link between a complicated thermodynamic process and the simple raising of a weight, but this is a rigorous test for the existence of work. One example of a process in which heat is converted to work is the isothermal (constant temperature) expansion of an ideal gas, as sketched in the figure. The system is the gas inside the chamber. As the gas expands, the piston does work on some external device. For an ideal gas, the internal energy is a function of temperature only, so that if the temperature is constant for some process the internal energy change is zero. To keep the temperature constant during the expansion, i R + - Viscous liquid Block on rough surface Resistive heating F