Scribd
Upload
108 views2 pages

Heat

The document discusses the heat capacity of gases. It defines heat capacity as the heat required to raise the temperature of a substance by 1 degree. For gases, the molar heat capacity C is used. The value of C depends on whether heat is added at constant volume or constant pressure. For monatomic ideal gases, CV = 3R/2 and CP = 5R/2, where R is the gas constant. The ratio of the specific heats, γ, is also an important number for gases.

Uploaded by

Adeel Majeed
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
108 views2 pages

Heat

The document discusses the heat capacity of gases. It defines heat capacity as the heat required to raise the temperature of a substance by 1 degree. For gases, the molar heat capacity C is used. The value of C depends on whether heat is added at constant volume or constant pressure. For monatomic ideal gases, CV = 3R/2 and CP = 5R/2, where R is the gas constant. The ratio of the specific heats, γ, is also an important number for gases.

Uploaded by

Adeel Majeed
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 2

8/25/2018 physics.bu.edu/~redner/211-sp06/class24/notes27_heatcap.

html

Heat Capacity of a Gas

The heat capacity of a substance tells us how much heat is required to raise a certain amount of the substance by one degree. For a gas we can
define a molar heat capacity C - the heat required to increase the temperature of 1 mole of the gas by 1 K.

Q = nCΔT

The value of the heat capacity depends on whether the heat is added at constant volume, constant pressure, etc.

Heat Capacity at Constant Volume

Q = nCVΔT

For an ideal gas, applying the First Law of Thermodynamics tells us that heat is also equal to:

Q = ΔEint + W, although W = 0 at constant volume.


3
For a monatomic ideal gas we showed that ΔEint = nR ΔT
2

Comparing our two equations


Q = nCV ΔT and Q = 3 nR ΔT
2

we see that, for a monatomic ideal gas:


CV = 3 R
2

For diatomic and polyatomic ideal gases we get:


diatomic: CV = 5 R
2

polyatomic: CV = 3R

This is from the extra 2 or 3 contributions to the internal energy from rotations.

Because Q = ΔEint when the volume is constant, the change in internal energy can always be written:

ΔEint = n CV ΔT

Heat Capacity at Constant Pressure

For an ideal gas at constant pressure, it takes more heat to achieve the same temperature change than it does at constant volume. At constant
volume all the heat added goes into raising the temperature. At constant pressure some of the heat goes to doing work.

Q = nCP ΔT

For an ideal gas, applying the First Law of Thermodynamics tells us that heat is also equal to:

Q = ΔEint + W

At constant pressure W = PΔV = nR ΔT


3
For a monatomic ideal gas, where ΔEint = nR ΔT , we get:
2
3 5
Q= nR ΔT + nR ΔT = nR ΔT
2 2
So, for a monatomic ideal gas: CP = 5 R
2

For diatomic and polyatomic ideal gases we get:


7
diatomic: CP = R
2

http://physics.bu.edu/~redner/211-sp06/class24/notes27_heatcap.html 1/2
8/25/2018 physics.bu.edu/~redner/211-sp06/class24/notes27_heatcap.html
polyatomic: CP = 4R

The ratio CP / CV

It turns out that the ratio of the specific heats is an important number. The symbol we use for the ratio is γ. For a monatomic ideal gas we
have:
CP 5R 2 5
γ= = * =
CV 2 3R 3

http://physics.bu.edu/~redner/211-sp06/class24/notes27_heatcap.html 2/2

You might also like