PHYS 205 PROBLEM SETS 8, 9 & 10 F M Ramazanoglu

Problem 1
(a) Freedman problem 17.113 (heat transfer in truncated cone).
(b) Freedman problem 17.115 (heat transfer in cylinder).
(c) The surface of a lake is at a constant subzero temperature in Celsius scale.
If the thickness of ice that forms in a day is 5cm, how much ice will form
in a week?

Problem 2
Assume all objects are black bodies in the following, i.e. e = 1.
(a) If the surface temperature of the Sun is T⊙ 1 , estimate the average surface
temperature on Earth in terms of the angular diameter of the Sun as it is
observed from the Earth, θ⊙E . Look up T⊙ and see how close your result
is to what we actually measure.
(b) Habitable zone of a star is defined as the shell around it where the average
temperature of a planet in the shell is between the freezing and boiling
temperatures of water at atmospheric pressure. Find the habitable zones
of the Sun, Proxima Centauri (the nearest star to the Sun), and Canopus.
Express your answer in terms of astronomical units, AU, which is the
average distance from the Sun to the the Earth ≈ 1.5 × 108 km.
You can look up the surface temperatures and radii of these stars from
the internet. Alternatively, the total radiation power of a star is called
luminosity

L = 4πR2 σT 4 , (1)

and can also be easily found from online sources. Its unit is Watt, but in
many cases it is expressed in terms of the solar luminosity L⊙ .

Problem 3
(a) Assuming the atmosphere is at a constant temperature T and has average
molecular mass m, find the atmospheric pressure as a function of altitude
y.
(b) Freedman problem 18.77 (oscillations of a piston).

Problem NOT TO BE GRADED

Modern experimental techniques enable us to confine particles to move on a
single dimensional wire, forming a 1D gas. The wire is of length L, and initially
it has temperature T and carries N particles. Assume equipartition of energy
still holds, and look up any integrals you may need.
1 ⊙ is the astronomical symbol for the Sun, and any of its characteristics are commonly

denoted by it.

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PHYS 205 PROBLEM SETS 8, 9 & 10 F M Ramazanoglu

(a) What is the probability distribution of the speed v of particles in a 1D

ideal gas? What is the average speed ⟨v⟩?
(b) What is the force exerted on the endpoints of the wire by the gas? Write
the ideal gas law for this system.

(c) We open one end of the wire for a short time ∆t so that the particles can
leak out. How many particles leave the wire? How much energy do they
carry out? How much does the temperature change after we close the leak
and the remaining gas comes to equilibrium again?
If you did your calculations right, you should find that the temperature of the 1D
gas decreases when we let some particles out. This is easy to grasp since faster
particles have higher kinetic energy, and they also leave the wire at a higher
rate due to their higher velocity. Overall, the remaining particles are always the
less energetic ones on average. This is the basic idea behind evaporative cooling,
which is used in many applications including Bose-Einstein condensation.

Problem 5
ℓ
"

p
(a) What is the rms charge Qrms = ⟨Q2 ⟩ due to thermal fluctuations on
a capacitor C not connected to any voltage source. Find the numerical
value for C = 1F at room temperature. How many electrons have this
much charge? What is the average charge ⟨Q⟩?
p
(b) What is the rms current Irms = ⟨I 2 ⟩ due to thermal fluctuations on an
inductor L not connected to any voltage source. Find the numerical value
for L = 1H at room temperature. What is the average current ⟨I⟩?
(c) A microelectramechanical system (MEMS) is composed of a rod of length
ℓ connected to a large surface with two springs of spring constant κ as
in the figure. Assume that the rod does not move significantly in the
direction parallel to the surface. Find the rms distance of the center of
mass of the rod from its equilibrium value. Find the rms angle the rod
makes from its equilibrium alignment. Hint: Treat each mode as a single
degree of freedom.

Even though thermal fluctuations are tiny for macroscopic systems, they become
exceedingly important as the systems get smaller in size, and can even dominate
the dynamics.

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PHYS 205 PROBLEM SETS 8, 9 & 10 F M Ramazanoglu

Problem 6
Repeat Problem 3 by changing isothermal processes to adiabatic ones.

(a) Find the oscillation frequency of the piston assuming the gas goes through
an adiabatic process instead of being kept at constant temperature.

(b) You previously found the dependence of atmospheric pressure on altitude

assuming the atmosphere has a constant temperature. Find p(y) assuming
that air masses go through an adiabatic process as they ascend or descend.
What is the result in the limit γ → 1? The temperature and pressure at the
sea level is given as T0 and P0 , respectively. How does the temperature
change with altitude? What is the thickness of the atmosphere in this
model, give a rough numerical value by using the standard conditions at
sea level.

Problem 7
A rubber band is different from a spring in that the potential energy of a spring
can be thought to be a part of its internal energy, whereas the internal energy of a
rubber band is solely a function of temperature and is given as U (T ) = CL0 T .
Here, C is the heat capacity of the band per unstretched length at constant
length, and L0 is the unstretched length.

(a) Write the first law of thermodynamics for a band that is being stretched
in terms of the tension force f on the band and other thermodynamical
variables. Hint: Beware of the signs, how does the band behave when you
stretch it, compared to what a gas does in terms of pressure.
(b) If you stretch a rubber band quickly, you will see that it warms up, which
can be easily felt by touch. Similarly, if you wait for the band to come
to room temperature and release it quickly, it cools down. Explain why.
Do this experiment at home, take a photo as proof, and attach it to your
solution set.

You can make a refrigerator from rubber bands using this! Note that it is
crucial for the internal energy of the band not to depend on its length (at least
to some approximation) for the above results to hold. We will later have another
look at the rubber band after we learn about entropy.

Problem 8
Gas molecules interact with each other and are not point particles. Hence, a
more realistic description of real gases is the van der Waals equation of state

N2
(p + a )(V − bN ) = N kT,
V2

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PHYS 205 PROBLEM SETS 8, 9 & 10 F M Ramazanoglu

where a, b are positive constants that depend on the gas. Due to the interactions
between its molecules, the internal energy of a van der Waals gas is not purely
a function of its temperature,

N2
U (T, V ) = N CV T − a ,
V
where CV is the heat capacity at constant volume of an ideal gas. You can derive
this yourself by using some MATH203 and something called Maxwell relations,
but just take it granted for this problem.

(a) Find the analog of the adiabatic formula pV γ = const of ideal gases for
the van der Waals gas i.e. f (p, V ) = const for some function f of the
pressure and volume.

(b) Find Cp of the van der Waals gas. It is not a constant unlike the ideal
gas.
(c) We mentioned in class that the efficiency of the Carnot engine is uni-
versal, any system that has a cycle of two adiabatic and two isothermal
processes gives exactly the same result. Explicitly show this for the van
der Waals gas running between two temperatures TC and TH above the
critical temperature.

Problem 9
We have two objects with mass m, specific heat c, and initial temperatures
T1 < T2
(a) After some quasi-stationary thermal contact between the objects, the tem-
perature of the first one becomes T1′ . What value of T1′ maximizes the total
entropy increase? How is T1′ related to thermal equilibrium?
(b) Instead of putting the objects in thermal contact, we set up a heat engine
between them starting from temperatures T1,2 . What is the maximum
work we can obtain? What is the final temperature of the objects?

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PHYS 205 PROBLEM SETS 8, 9 & 10 F M Ramazanoglu

Problem 10

2p0

p0

V0 2V0
Calculate the efficiency of the two triangle shaped cycles in the figure for a
monatomic ideal gas. Hint: Even though they seem similar, the dashed cycle re-
quires some thought. Heat transfer is not in a single direction on the hypothenuse
in this case.