Re: Chem Lab B/C
Posted: February 14th, 2018, 4:46 pm
What is the specific heat capacity of an ideal gas? Express this value using variables from this equation: PV=m/(mm)RT. Good luck 

C. Temperature is constant during a phase change and is proportional to average kinetic energy of the particles.
dmis wrote:This question was on an invitational test: and I am pretty confident though my answer was marked wrong. What do you think:
As a substance undergoes a change from the solid to the liquid phase at constant temperature the average
kinetic energy of its molecules
a) decreases
b) increases
c) remains the same
Assuming we're talking about a monatomic ideal gas, you can use Cv = 3/2R and Cp = Cv + R. These come by setting U=3/2nRT equal to Q=nCvT in an isovolumetric process. Going way back, the 3/2 comes from some pretty neat degrees of freedom stuff, but I'm not exactly sure how far I should be going down this deriving rabbit hole.
Tesel wrote:What is the specific heat capacity of an ideal gas? Express this value using variables from this equation: PV=m/(mm)RT. Good luck
I would agree. The key is marked B however, so either they are wrong or we both are.g-omal wrote:C. Temperature is constant during a phase change and is proportional to average kinetic energy of the particles.dmis wrote:This question was on an invitational test: and I am pretty confident though my answer was marked wrong. What do you think:
As a substance undergoes a change from the solid to the liquid phase at constant temperature the average
kinetic energy of its molecules
a) decreases
b) increases
c) remains the same
dmis wrote:I would agree. The key is marked B however, so either they are wrong or we both are.g-omal wrote:C. Temperature is constant during a phase change and is proportional to average kinetic energy of the particles.dmis wrote:This question was on an invitational test: and I am pretty confident though my answer was marked wrong. What do you think:
As a substance undergoes a change from the solid to the liquid phase at constant temperature the average
kinetic energy of its molecules
a) decreases
b) increases
c) remains the same
The answer is B because the molecules are more free: this is what distinguishes the liquid phase from the solid phase. Note that temperature is NOT proportional to the average kinetic energy of a particle. Its real definition is slightly more complicated and is related to the properties of a gas thermometer and the zeroth law of thermodynamics. See this chart: [img]http://www.splung.com/heat/images/latentheat/phasechange.png[/img] Some energy is used to overcome the latent heat of fusion and goes into increasing the average kinetic energy of the molecules.