Expansion Assumption

1. Apr 2, 2005

mtanti

I'de like to know if gases expand differently with the same amount of increase in heat. If so which is the one which expands most and by how much?
10x!

Last edited: Apr 3, 2005
2. Apr 2, 2005

brewnog

You may want to read up on the Gas Law...

3. Apr 4, 2005

Gokul43201

Staff Emeritus
In particular, the relative increase in volume

$$\frac {\Delta V}{V_0} = \frac{\Delta T}{T_0} \approx \frac {Q}{C_p T_0}~~\alpha ~~\frac{1}{C_p}$$ for a given amt of heat.

4. Apr 4, 2005

so-crates

As Gokul indicated it depends in Cp, the heat capacity of the gas. The heat capacity depends on the degrees of freedom of the gas molecule. This in turns depends on the complexity of the structure of the gas. Diatomic gases for instance, have higher heat capacities than monatomic gases. Heat capacity also increase with the mass of the molecules. This is due to the fact that temperature at the molecular level is really vibrational and rotational energies of the molecules, which increases with the increasing moment of inertia of the molecules.