Answer to Question #158645 in Physical Chemistry for ved

Question

One mole of an ideal gas is expanded isothermally from (T₁, P₁, V₁) to (T₂,

P₂, V₂) in two stages. First stage uses constant opposing pressure P’ and

second stage uses constant opposing pressure P₂. Show that the maximum

value of work produced is given by 2RT{1 −( P₂/P₁)^1/2 } and P’= (P₁ P₂)^1/2

Answer 1

One mole of an ideal gas is expanded isothermally from (T₁, P₁, V₁) to (T₂,

P₂, V₂) in two stages. First stage uses constant opposing pressure P’ and

second stage uses constant opposing pressure P₂. Show that the maximum

value of work produced is given by 2RT{1 −( P₂/P₁)^1/2 } and P’= (P₁ P₂)^1/2