Thermodynamics Tutorials (25MTRN11C)
Tutorial 2: Introduction to pure substances
At the end of this session the student should have a complete understanding of the following concepts:
• Introduction to pure substances behaviour.
Tutorial Questions
1. Complete this table for H2O and describe each phase on a T-V diagram.
T P, kPa h, kJ/kg x Phase description
200 0.7
140 1800
950 0.0
80 500
800 3162.2
2. The average metabolic rate of a 30 years old man and woman is around 7200 kJ and 5900 kJ per day
respectively in the resting state. How much water is lost from both, in mL/day, in a normal day if 30%
of the energy is rejected from the body by perspiration in the form of latent heat?
Answer: 889.92 mL⁄day & 729 mL⁄day.
3. Refrigerant (R134a) is used to cool a supercomputer chip module using evaporative cooling
mechanism, the system is designed to remove heat at a rate of 2000 W from the module to maintain
a module temperature of 50℃. Calculate the latent heat of the refrigerant flowing at a rate of
0.011 kg⁄s. Answer: 182 kJ/kg.
4. A rigid tank with a volume of 0.117 m3 contains 1 kg of refrigerant-134a vapor at 240 kPa. The refrig-
erant is now allowed to cool. Determine the pressure when the refrigerant first starts condensing.
Also, show the process on a P-v diagram with respect to saturation lines. Answer: 169 kPa
5. A piston–cylinder device initially contains 50 L of liquid water at 40°C and 200 kPa. Heat is transferred
to the water at constant pressure until the entire liquid is vaporized.
a) What is the mass of the water?
b) What is the final temperature?
c) Determine the total enthalpy change.
d) Show the process on a T-v diagram with respect to saturation lines. Answer: (a) 49.61 kg, (b)
120.21°C, (c) 125,943 kJ
6. A 10-kg mass of superheated refrigerant-134a at 1.2 MPa and 70°C is cooled at constant pressure until
it exists as a compressed liquid at 20°C.
a) Show the process on a T-v diagram with respect to saturation lines.
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Thermodynamics Tutorials (25MTRN11C)
Tutorial 2: Introduction to pure substances
b) Determine the change in volume.
c) Find the change in total internal energy. Answer: (b) − 0.187 m!, (c) 1984 kJ
7. A piston–cylinder device initially contains steam at 3.5 MPa, superheated by 5°C. Now, steam loses
heat to the surroundings and the piston moves down hitting a set of stops at which point the cylinder
contains saturated liquid water. The cooling continues until the cylinder contains water at 200°C.
Determine (a) the initial temperature, (b) the enthalpy change per unit mass of the steam by the time
the piston first hits the stops, and (c) the final pressure and the quality (if mixture). Answer: (a) 247.6
℃ , (b) −1771 kJ⁄kg, (c) 1555 kPa & 0.0006.
8. A tank whose volume is unknown is divided into two parts by a partition. One side of the tank contains
0.01 m3 of refrigerant-134a that is a saturated liquid at 0.8 MPa, while the other side is evacuated.
The partition is now removed, and the refrigerant fills the entire tank. If the final state of the
refrigerant is 20°C and 400 kPa, determine the volume of the tank. Answer: 0.641 m3.
9. A piston-cylinder device contains 0.1 m3 of liquid water and 0.9 m3 of water
vapor in equilibrium at 800 kPa. Heat is transferred at constant pressure until
the temperature reaches 350°C.
a) What is the initial temperature of the water?
b) Determine the total mass of the water.
c) Calculate the final volume.
d) Show the process on a P-υ diagram with respect to saturation lines.
Answer: (a) 170.41℃, (b) 93.45 kg, (c) 33.12 m3.
10. A mass of 5 kg of saturated liquid–vapor mixture of water is contained in a
piston-cylinder device at 100 kPa. Initially, 2 kg of water is in the liquid phase
and the rest is in the vapor phase. Heat is now transferred to the water, and
the piston, which is resting on a set of stops, starts moving when the pressure
inside reaches 200 kPa. Heat transfer continues until the total volume increases
by 20 percent. Determine:
a) the initial and final temperatures,
b) the mass of liquid water when the piston first starts moving.
Answer: (a) 106.0℃ & 373.6 ℃, (b) no liquid is left in the cylinder.