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Assignment 1 – The First Law of Thermodynamics

(For Week 2)

Tutorial Questions

1. In a chemical lab, there is a rigid steel vessel containing 10 cm3 of steam in equilibrium
with 10 cm3 of liquid water at 120 °C. The vessel is heated up until one phase just
disappears; meanwhile, a single phase remains. Based on the steam table in the textbook,
determine which phase remains (vapor or liquid), and what are the final temperature and
pressure? How much heat is transferred into the vessel?

[Answer: liquid phase remains, 1307.89 J/g]

2. Water at 28 °C flows in a straight horizontal pipe, and there is no exchange of either heat
or work with the surroundings. The velocity of water is 14 m/s in a pipe with an internal
diameter of 2.5 cm until it flows into a section where the pipe diameter increases. What is
the temperature change of the water if the downstream diameter is 3.8 cm? If the diameter
is 7.5 cm, what is the temperature change? How to determine the maximum temperature
change? Assume a steady state of the flow.

[Answer: 0.019 °C, 0.0231 °C, 0.0234 °C]


D1 m1, u1 m2, u2 D2

CN2121 Chemical Engineering Thermodynamics (J. W. Jiang)


Homework Questions

1. A frictionless piston-cylinder system is subject to 1.013 bar external pressure. The piston
mass is 200 kg with an area of 0.15 m2, and the initial volume of the entrapped ideal gas is
0.12 m3. The piston and cylinder do not conduct heat, but heat can be added to the gas by a
heating coil. The gas has a CV = 30.1 J/mol/K and an initial
temperature of 298 K, and 10.5 kJ of energy is supplied to the gas
through the heating coil.
(a) If the piston is prevented from rising, how to determine the
final temperature and pressure of the gas?
(b) If the piston is allowed to move freely, how to determine the
final temperature and volume of the gas?
[Answer: (a) 361 K, 1.385 × 105 Pa (b) 347.35 K, 0.1399 m3]

2. Steam at 450 °C and 10 MPa flows in a pipe. Connected to the pipe


through a valve is an empty tank. The valve is opened and the tank
fills with steam slowly until the pressure is 10 MPa, and then the
valve is closed. The process takes place adiabatically.
(a) Is the final temperature in the tank equal to that of the steam
flowing in the pipe? Why?
(b) How to determine the final temperature of the steam in the tank.
[Answer: (b) 600 °C]

3. Nozzle is a mechanical device designed to control the velocity a fluid flow as it exits (or
enters) an enclosed chamber or pipe. In a steady state, steam flows through a converging,
insulated nozzle, 25 cm long and with an inlet diameter of 5 cm. At the nozzle entrance
(state 1), the temperature and pressure are 325 °C and 700 kPa, and the velocity is 30 m/s.
At the nozzle exist (state 2), the steam temperature and pressure are 240 °C and 350 kPa.
Property values are:
H1 = 3112.5 kJ/ kg, V1 = 388.61 cm3/g
H2 = 2945.7 kJ/ kg, V2 = 667.75 cm3/g
What is the velocity of the steam at the nozzle exit and what is the exit diameter?
[Answer: 578.36 m/s, 1.493 cm]

4. Soft drinks (e.g. coke, beer, etc.) typically contain compressed CO2. When you open a can
of coke, compressed CO2 will expand into atmosphere. If compressed CO2 has a pressure
of 3 bar and a temperature of 10 °C, what is the final temperature of CO2 after reaching
atmospheric pressure (1 bar)? Assume that the expansion process is adiabatic, CO2 has a
constant heat capacity of CP = 37 J/(mol⋅K) and behaves as an ideal gas.
[Answer: −32.42 °C]

CN2121 Chemical Engineering Thermodynamics (J. W. Jiang)

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