Practice question · Numerical answer
A gas expands from 1.0 L to 4.0 L against a constant external pressure of 3.0 atm. Compute the work done on the gas, in L atm.
Hints
- Use w = -P times the change in volume.
- Compute -3.0 x (4.0 - 1.0).
Show the answer
-9 (answers within ±0.1 count)
Why
L atm. The gas does work on its surroundings, so from the system’s point of view the value is negative.
Practise The First Law of Thermodynamics
The app has 4 more questions on this lesson, and keeps your place in the course. Chemistry I is free to start.
More questions on The First Law of Thermodynamics
- A system absorbs 150 J of heat and has 60 J of work done on it. Compute the change in internal energy, in…
- Heat and work are both state functions of a system.
- Which quantities are state functions, that is, which depend only on the current state rather than on the…
- Arrange these processes in order of increasing work extracted from the same expansion, from least to most.
- Match each term to its precise meaning.
- Sort each sign convention by what it represents for the system.
- Internal energy is a state function whereas heat is a path-dependent process. What follows from this…