Does Helium Expands Faster than Air When Heated?

  • Thread starter Thread starter said_alyami
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Air Helium
AI Thread Summary
The discussion centers on the comparison of two piston-cylinder systems containing helium and air, both starting under identical conditions. The key question is whether the helium system will expand faster than the air system when exposed to the same heat source. It is noted that helium has a higher specific heat capacity and thermal conductivity than air, which suggests it may absorb energy more quickly. Although there is some debate about the exact values of specific heat capacities, it is generally agreed that helium will likely expand at a greater rate due to its superior energy absorption capabilities. Overall, the consensus leans towards helium causing a faster change in volume per unit time compared to air.
said_alyami
Messages
6
Reaction score
0
This is a really confusing issue .. even when asked my professor in thermodynamics he tried to derive many theromdynamic equations and could not come to a conclusion about it

if we have two cylinder piston systems ,, they both have the exact same conditions except the kind of gas in each one ,,, one has Helium as the working gas ,, the other one has air as the working gas

both cylinder piston systems have the same initial vloume V1 and the same initial Pressure= 1 atm .. and the same initial Temperature= 25 C

then we expose both systems to exactly the same source of heat with exact condition, and both systems starts to have volume expansion that drive the piston up ,, while keeping constant pressure.

its known that Cp for Helium is about 5 times greater than Cp for air ,, and also the thermal conductivity of Helium is much greater than that of air.

my question is : is the piston cylinder system that contains Helium going to expand FASTER than that which contains air? or they both are going to expand at the same speed?

Thank You
 
Science news on Phys.org
When you say "faster" I'm guessing that you mean change in volume per unit time.

I don't think Cp for helium is 5 times greater than for air (probably 1.2 times or so) but Helium will probably expand faster because it will absorb energy faster from the reservoir. Rate of heat is quicker into the cylinder with helium, thus it supplies more energy per unit time.
 
Curl said:
When you say "faster" I'm guessing that you mean change in volume per unit time.

I don't think Cp for helium is 5 times greater than for air (probably 1.2 times or so) but Helium will probably expand faster because it will absorb energy faster from the reservoir. Rate of heat is quicker into the cylinder with helium, thus it supplies more energy per unit time.

thank you for your reply ,, but based on what you have concluded that Helium will absorb energy faster than air?

Note: yes, faster means: higher chanage in volume per unit time

thanks
 
I was watching a Khan Academy video on entropy called: Reconciling thermodynamic and state definitions of entropy. So in the video it says: Let's say I have a container. And in that container, I have gas particles and they're bouncing around like gas particles tend to do, creating some pressure on the container of a certain volume. And let's say I have n particles. Now, each of these particles could be in x different states. Now, if each of them can be in x different states, how many total...
Thread 'Why work is PdV and not (P+dP)dV in an isothermal process?'
Let's say we have a cylinder of volume V1 with a frictionless movable piston and some gas trapped inside with pressure P1 and temperature T1. On top of the piston lay some small pebbles that add weight and essentially create the pressure P1. Also the system is inside a reservoir of water that keeps its temperature constant at T1. The system is in equilibrium at V1, P1, T1. Now let's say i put another very small pebble on top of the piston (0,00001kg) and after some seconds the system...
Back
Top