1.

We construct a thermometer by placing some gas in a tightly sealed, rigid container with
a barometer attached to it. The barometer records absolute pressure (i.e., vacuum in the
container would correspond to a zero reading). We calibrate our thermometer by placing it
in an ice bath and in boiling water. Which of the readings below are reasonable?

(A) (B)
0 0 0 0
1.1 0.1 1.1 0.1 1.1 0.1 1.1 0.1

1.0 0.2 1.0 0.2 1.0 0.2 1.0 0.2

0.9 0.3 0.9 0.3 0.9 0.3 0.9 0.3

0.8 0.4 0.8 0.4 0.8 0.4 0.8 0.4

0.7 0.5 0.7 0.5 0.7 0.5 0.7 0.5
0.6 0.6 0.6 0.6

Ice bath Boiling water Ice bath Boiling water

(C)
0 0
1.1 0.1 1.1 0.1
0.2
(D) (B) or (C)
1.0 1.0 0.2

0.9 0.3 0.9 0.3 (E) (A), (B) or (C)

0.8 0.4 0.8 0.4
0.5 0.5
(F) none of the three
0.7 0.6 0.7 0.6

Ice bath Boiling water

2. Gas is compressed from an initial volume V to a final volume 0.8V . Which one
requires the most work:
(a) isothermal compression
(b) isobaric compression
(c) adiabatic compression

3. At temperature T , 2 moles of an ideal gas have internal energy 3RT. Assuming vi-
brations are frozen out and nothing else is, what could be the shape of the molecules that
make up this gas?

(A) (B) (C) (D) (E)

(F) (B) or (C)

(G) (C) or (E)
(H) (D) or (E)

4. What would be the answer to the previous question if 2 moles of gas had internal
energy 6RT?
5. A gas at 100C and 1atm of pressure has a volume of 4L. To put the same gas into a 1L
container without exceeding pressure of 2 atm, how cold must the gas be?
(A) no colder than -86 C (E) no warmer than -86 C
(B) no colder than 50 C (F) no warmer than 50 C
(C) no colder than -180 C (G) no warmer than -180 C
(D) no colder than -226 C (H) no warmer than -226 C

P
6. A substance is taken around the cycle shown
to the right, consisting of three points connected P2
by straight line segments. Some net amount of
heat Q is exchanged with the surroundings over
the course of the entire cycle. What, in addition P1
to the details shown on the P-V diagram, does Q V
depend on?
V1 V2
(A) For a substance following the equipartion theorem, the heat Q depends on f , the
number of quadratic degrees of freedom
(B) For a substance following the equipartion theorem, the heat Q depends on f , the
number of quadratic degrees of freedom, and on the equation of state
(C) The heat Q depends on the equation of state and nothing else
(D) The heat depends on other quantities, such as heat capacities
(E) The heat Q does not depend on anything else at all
 P
7. 0.2 mol of diatomic ideal gas is taken around 1
the cycle shown to the right. Stage 1 is at con- P2
stant pressure, stage 2 is isothermic, stage 3 is at 3
constant volume. Let the starting point, marked 2
with a circle, be at P2 =1atm and V2 =1L, and let P1
the first stage reduce the volume to V1 = 0.4L. V
V1 V2
(a) Compute, in kelvin, the temperature at the end of step 2.

(b) Compute total work done on the gas over the whole cycle.

(c) How much net heat is added to this system over the course of the cycle?
8. An ideal gas with f quadratic degrees of freedom is placed in a rigid box made of material
with a large thermal expansion coefficient. As a result, the volume of the gas depends on
temperature: V = V0 + (T T0 ). V0 , T0 and are constants. You may ignore the heat
capacity of the box itself.

(a) Give a diffential form of the above equation linking V and T (ie, a relationship
betwen dV and dT )

(b) Below is the start of a calculation computing the heat capacity (as a function of
temperature) of the gas inside the box. Complete the calculation and give an answer in
terms of temperature T , as well as the constants f , , V0 , T0 , N and k.

Q
C= = =
dT dT
1. Consider the following graph of entropy S vs. energy U for a particular system. How does the
temperature at point 1 compare to the temperature at point 2?

S
2

U
(A) T1 = T2 (B) T1 > T2 (C) T1 < T2

2. According to the following graph of entropy vs. energy, the temperature of the system, in the limit
U 0, is approaching

0 U
(A) Zero
(B) a non-zero, finite constant
(C) infinity
(D) a negative value
3. A small amount of heat flows from a system A at higher temperature to a system B at lower
temperature.

A Q B

High T Low T

Which is larger in magnitude, |SA| or |SB| ?

(A) |SA| (B) |SB| (C) |SA| = |SB|

4.

U U
A B

A B
S S
A B

UA,init UA UB,init UB

Two systems, A and B, are in thermal contact. The systems have S vs. U curves shown and initially
have the same energy UA,init = UB,init. Which system will gain energy as (A+B) evolves toward thermal
equilibrium.

A) Neither, they are already in thermal equilibrium

B) System A will gain
C) System B will gain
5. System A = ideal gas
System B = heat bath (a system with such a large heat capacity that its temperature remains
constant when heat Q is added or removed).

System A is in thermal contact with system B. The gas in A slowly expands, isothermally.

B
T T
A
What happens to Stot = SA + SB during this process?

(A) Stot increases (B) Stot decreases (C) Stot remains constant

6.

S
1

dS 2

V
dV

Consider two points in the S,V plane (N fixed).

Is U = Ufinal - Uinitial the same for all three paths shown?

(A) Yes, U is path-independent

(B) No, U depends on the path.
(C) It does not depend on the path, but does depend on how the system moves along this path.
7. A gas container is divided into two sections (A and B) of equal volumes (VA = VB ), with
a movable partition:
SA(VA)

SB(VB)
VA VB

VA = V B
The two gases have entropies with different dependence on volume, as shown above.
The system will evolve so that side increases its volume. (Fill in the blank.)
(A) side A
(B) side B
(C) not enough information to tell

8. Use the thermodynamic identity to figure out which of the following partial derivatives
is equal to the pressure, P

   
S  S  U  U 
(A)  (B)  (C)  (D) 
V N,U V N,U V S,N V S,N
9. The Sackur-Tetrode equation is
V 3 U 3 4m 5
     
S = N k ln + ln + ln +
N 2 N 2 3h2 2
A box contains 2 moles of argon and 1 mole of xenon (both monoatomic gases). The two
gases are at the same pressure and temperature, but separated by a rigid barrier.

(a) [3 points] By how much does the entropy of this system increase if the barrier is
removed and the two gases mix?

(b) [1 point] If the two gases were not originally at the same pressure (but still were at
the same temperature), would the change in entropy when the barrier is removed be larger
or smaller than in part (a)? Argue carefully.
10. The leading order Stirling approximation is

N ! N N eN

A very simple thermodynamic system has the following multiplicity as a function of its
internal energy U and the number of particles N (E is a constant with units of energy):

(U/E)N
(U, N ) =
N!

(a) [3 points] Compute the entropy to leading order (discard terms that grow slower
than N ).

(b) [2 points] What is the internal energy, as a function of temperature and N , for
this system?