Unit 4 1

UNIT 4 FIRST LAW OF THERMODYNAMICS -

CLOSED SYSTEMS

Unit Structure
4.0 Overview
4.1 Learning Objectives
4.2 Introduction
4.3 Heat
4.4 Work
4.4.1 Mechanical Work
4.5 First Law of Thermodynamics Closed Systems
4.6 Tutorial Sheet
4.7 Summary
4.8 Answers to Activities and Tutorial Sheet

4.0 OVERVIEW

You must have noticed from everyday life examples that there are changes in the
property (for example temperature) of systems or bodies. These changes in
temperature are brought about by energy interactions. This unit will help you to
understand how the first law of Thermodynamics can be used to account for and to
explain these energy changes between systems. You will also learn how to apply the
law to closed systems so as to solve related thermodynamics problems. In order to
understand the unit, you need to have a good knowledge of A-level Physics and
Chemistry as well as a good understanding of the previous units.


Unit 4 2
4.1 LEARNING OBJECTIVES

By the end of this unit, you will be able to do the following:
1. Define heat and work.
2. Apply the first law of Thermodynamics to closed systems.
3. Solve thermodynamic problems.
4. Explain the concepts of heat and work.

4.2 INTRODUCTION

The first law of Thermodynamics is based on the principle of conservation of energy.
The phenomenon of temperature change is brought about by the interaction of energy.
Energy interactions between a closed system and its surroundings, at the boundary,
take the form of heat transfer and work. You will see how these two concepts i.e.
heat and work, can be used for defining the first law of thermodynamics. A sign
convention has to be adopted for both heat and work. You should also remember that
a closed system is one in which there is energy interaction between system and
surroundings and that there is no mass flow in or out of the system.

4.3 HEAT

You can easily imagine that a bottle, of cold demineralised water, placed on a table in
a room at ambient temperature will eventually warm up and that a cup of hot coffee
placed on the same table will eventually cool down. In both of these cases, there is
heat transfer; in the case of the cold water, it will be from the surroundings to the soft
drink and in the case of the hot coffee, it will be from the coffee to the surroundings
until thermal equilibrium is established. This enables us to define heat:
Heat is defined as the form of energy that is transferred between two systems
by virtue of a temperature difference.
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A process during which there is no heat transfer is called an adiabatic process.
Therefore, a process will be an adiabatic one provided (i) the system and
surroundings are at the same temperature or (ii) the system is insulated.
Heat will sometimes be expressed on a unit mass basis and per unit time as indicated
below:
Symbol Units
Heat Q kJ (Btu)
Per unit q =Q/m kJ/kg
Mass

Rate of

Q kJ/s or kW
heat transfer

Since heat is a directional quantity, we have to adopt a sign convention:
Heat transfer to a system: + ve
Heat transfer from a system: -ve
Heat can be transferred through three modes namely conduction, convection and
radiation.
Activity 1
(a) When is the energy crossing the boundary of a system considered to be heat?
(b) What is an adiabatic system?
(c) What are the mechanisms for heat transfer?

4.4 WORK

As mentioned earlier, work like heat is an energy interaction. If the energy crossing
the boundary of a system is not in the form of heat, then it is surely in the form of
work. Unlike heat, a temperature difference between a system and its surroundings
Unit 4 4
does not cause work. In fact, work is defined as the energy transfer associated with a
force acting through a certain distance.

Symbol Units
Work W kJ (Btu)
Per unit w =W/m kJ/kg
Mass

Work done

W kJ/s or kW
Per unit time
(Power)
As in the case of heat, a sign convention is adopted. The latter is based on the
principle that production of work by a device is desirable while consumption of work
is not a desirable thing. Thus, we will denote:
the work done by a system (work produced) as a positive quantity and
the work done on a system (work consumed) as a negative quantity.

(+) Q
(-) Q
(-) W Surroundings
(+) W
System boundary
Figure 4.1: Sign convention for heat transfer and work for a Closed System.

Some points to remember regarding heat transfer and work:
- Both of them are boundary phenomena (i.e. they can be recognised only
when they cross the boundary of a system).
- A closed system possesses energy but not heat transfer or work.
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- Both of them are associated with a process and not with a state.
There are different types of work that can be encountered; the most common
ones being given below:
- electrical work: W
e
=VI t(V-Voltage (V), I-Current (A) & t-Time (s))
- gravitational work: W
g
= mg(z
2
-z
1
) (m-Mass (kg), g-Gravitational
Acceleration (ms
-2
), z
2
-z
1
-displacement (m))
- accelerational work: W
a
= m(v
2
2
v
1
2
) (m-Mass (kg), v-Velocity (ms
-1
)
- spring work: W
s
= k (x
2
2
x
1
2
) (k-Spring constant (N/m), x-
displacement of spring (m))

Activity 2
(a) When is the energy crossing the boundary of a system considered to be work?
(b) If a room is heated with solar radiation coming through the window, is it a
heat or work interaction for the room?
Activity 3
What is the work done on an electrical resistance through which a current of 1A is
passed for 1 hour, with a potential drop of 2 volts measured at the terminals?
4.4.1 Mechanical Work
The type of work that will be of interest to us is the mechanical type of work.
Mechanical work W is defined as the work done by a force F acting through a
distance x in the direction of the force:
If the force is constant, then
W = Fx Equation 4.1
Unit 4 6
In case the force is not constant, then
W =

F dx Equation 4.2
In order to have a work interaction between a system and its surroundings, there must
be a force acting on the boundary and the boundary must be a moving one. This type
of work is known as boundary work. The expansion and compression of a gas in a
piston-cylinder device is a common example of boundary work. The sign convention
applicable in the case of mechanical work states that:
- work done by a system against an external force acting in opposite direction to
motion is positive.
- work done on a system by an external force in direction of motion is negative.
The expression for mechanical work can be derived by, using as example, the
expansion/compression process of a gas in a piston-cylinder device. If we consider a
gas enclosed in a piston-cylinder device at a Pressure P, enclosed in a total volume V
and if the cross-sectional area of the piston is A, then the differential work done dW
when the piston is allowed to move a distance dx in quasi-equilibrium is given by:
dW = Fdx = PAdx = PdV
dW (+ve): expansion, dW (-ve): compression
W =

P dV Equation 4.3




Figure 4.2: Piston-Cylinder device
P
Expansion
F
A
dx
Unit 4 7

4.5 FIRST LAW OF THERMODYNAMICS CLOSED
SYSTEMS

As previously stated, the First Law of Thermodynamics is in fact an expression of the
principle of conservation of energy. The latter states that Energy can neither be
created nor destroyed but can be transformed from one form to another. (i.e. every
bit of energy should be accounted for).
We have up to now considered heat Q, work W and total energy E separately. We
will now try to relate them. From the statement on the principle of conservation of
energy, it is deduced that :
(i) in the absence of any work interactions between a system and its
surroundings, the amount of heat transfer is equal to the change in total
energy of a system. Q = E ( W = 0)
This can be illustrated by the example of a potato placed in an oven. As a
result of heat transfer, the energy of the potato will increase and the gain in
energy of the potato will be equal to the heat transferred.
(ii) for adiabatic processes, the amount of work done on a system is equal to
the change in the total energy of a closed system:
-W = E ( Q = 0)
This can be illustrated by taking the example of an insulated room being heated by an
electric heater. The only interaction occurring will be the electrical work done on the
system, which will increase the energy of the system.
The negative sign ensures that work done on a system increases the energy of a
system whereas the work done by a system will decrease the energy of the same
system.
To summarise, we can say that the First Law of Thermodynamics as applied to
Closed Systems can be expressed as :

Q W = E Equation 4.4
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where Q-W represents the net energy transfer to (or from) the system as heat and
work and E represents the net increase (or decrease) in the total energy of the
system.
As explained in Unit 1 (refer to equation 1.1), the total energy of a system is made up
of the internal energy of the system plus the kinetic energy of the system plus the
potential energy of the system. Hence, the change in total energy of a system will be
equal to the sum of the changes in internal energy (U), kinetic energy (K.E.) and
potential energy (P.E.) of the system.
E = U + KE + PE Equation 4.5
Most closed systems are stationary and thus the change in kinetic energy and potential
energy can be neglected. The 1
st
law of thermodynamics will then simplify as:

Q W = U Equation 4.6

Activity 4
Simplify the equation 4.6
(i) if the process is taking place in a rigid vessel
(ii) if the process is taking place in an insulated vessel.
In the case of a cyclic process, the initial and final states are identical and thus there is
no change in the internal energy of the system. The expression of the first law
becomes:

Q = W Equation 4.7





Unit 4 9







Figure 4.3: Cyclic process

4.6 TUTORIAL SHEETS

1) A rigid tank with a volume of 3 ft
3
is initially filled with refrigerant-12 at 120
psia and 140 F. The refrigerant is now cooled to 20 F. Determine
(a) the mass of the refrigerant
(b) the final pressure in the tank
(c) the heat transferred from the refrigerant
2) A rigid tank is divided into 2 equal parts by a partition. Initially, one side of
the tank contains 5 kg of water at 200 kPa and 25 C and the other side is
evacuated. The partition is then removed and the water expands into the entire
tank. The water is then allowed to exchange heat with its surroundings until
the temperature in the tank returns to its initial value of 25 C. Determine the
(a) volume of the tank
(b) final pressure
(c) internal energy change.
3) A piston-cylinder arrangement initially contains air at 150 kPa and 27C. At
this state, the piston is resting on a pair of stops and the enclosed volume is
400 L. The mass of the piston is such that a 350 kPa pressure is required to
move it. The air is now heated until its volume has doubled. Determine
(a) the final temperature
P
V
Unit 4 10
(b) work done by air
(c) total heat added.
4) A mass of 5 kg of saturated water vapour at 200 kPa is heated at constant
pressure until the temperature reaches 300 C. Calculate the work done by the
steam during the process.
5) A frictionless piston-cylinder device contains 8 kg of superheated water
vapour at 500 kPa and 300 C. Steam is now cooled at constant pressure until
70 per cent of it, by mass, condenses. Calculate the work done during the
process.
6) A well-insulated rigid tank initially contains 5 kg of saturated liquid-vapour
mixture of water at 100 kPa. Initially, three quarters of the mass is in the
liquid phase. An electric resistor placed in the tank is connected to a 110-V
source, and a current of 8 A flows through the resistor when the switch is
turned on. Determine how long it will take to vaporise all the liquid in the
tank.

4.7 SUMMARY

In this unit, the concepts of heat and work have been introduced to you to show how
they can finally lead to the definition of the first law of thermodynamics applied to
closed systems. You will recall from Unit 1, that a closed system is one in which
there is only energy interactions and no mass flow or exchange between surroundings
and system. Heat and Work are both energy interactions: heat is defined as a form of
energy that is transferred between two systems by virtue of a temperature difference
whereas work is defined as the energy transfer associated with a force acting through
a certain distance. The first law of Thermodynamics is simply an expression of the
principle of conservation of energy which states that energy can neither be created nor
destroyed but can be transformed from one form to the other.
Using the concepts of heat Q, Work W and total energy E, it is possible to write down
an expression for the first law of thermodynamics as applied to closed systems:
Q W = E
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By recalling the definition of total energy E from unit 1, the above expression can
further be simplified for a stationary closed system:
Q W = U where U - change in internal energy
In the next unit, the concepts of specific heats will be introduced and you will see how
they are inter-related to enthalpy and internal energy.

4.8 ANSWERS TO ACTIVITIES AND TUTORIAL SHEET

Activity 1
(a) When there is a temperature difference between system and surroundings, the
energy interaction will be in the form of heat.
(b) An adiabatic system is one which, is insulated so that there is no heat transfer,
at the boundary, with the surroundings.
(c ) Conduction, Convection and Radiation.

Activity 2
(a) When the energy interaction is associated with a force acting through a certain
distance.
(c) heat interaction.

Activity 3
7.2 kJ

Activity 4
(i) Q = U (W = 0)
(ii) W = -U (Q = 0)
Unit 4 12

Tutorial Sheet
1) (a) 3.37 kg
(b) 0.26 MPa
(c) - 407.4 kJ
2) (a) 0.01 m
3
(b) 3.169 kPa
(c) 0.25 kJ
3) (a) 1400 K
(b) 140 kJ
(c) 766.9 kJ
4) 430.5 kJ
5) -1637 kJ
6) 148.3 min