Thermodynamics: Calculating Pressure Increase From Work

AI Thread Summary
The discussion centers on calculating the pressure increase needed to apply 1 J of mechanical work to 1 mol of silver and alumina at room temperature. The expected pressure increases are 9.6 million atm for silver and 978 atm for alumina, but the user initially calculated much higher values. After realizing the need to convert mechanical work from Joules to cm³ atm, the user corrected the alumina calculation but still struggled with silver, obtaining 1461 atm instead of the expected value. Other participants pointed out potential errors in using the coefficient of compressibility (beta) and encouraged sharing detailed calculations for further assistance. Accurate calculations are essential for determining the correct pressure increases in these materials.
Matt James
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Homework Statement


Estimate the pressure increase required to impart 1 J of mechanical work in reversibly compressing 1 mol of silver at room temperature. What pressure rise would be required to impart 1 J of work to 1 mol of alumina at room temperature? For alumina take the molar volume to be 25.715 (cc/mol) and (BETA)=8*10^(-7) (atm)^(-1).
For silver, the molar volume is 10.27 (cc/mol) and (BETA)= 9.93*10^(-6)
Beta is the coefficient of compressibility

Homework Equations


Mechanical Work= -PdV
dV=V(ALPHA)dt-V(BETA)dP

The Attempt at a Solution


I assumed that temperature remained constant during this process. I know that the answer should be 9.6*(10)^6 atm for silver and 978 atm for alumina. I have been getting 140041 atm for silver and 311800 atm for alumina. The attempt is attached below. Any ideas as to what I'm doing wrong? Thanks in advance!
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Matt James said:

Homework Statement


Estimate the pressure increase required to impart 1 J of mechanical work in reversibly compressing 1 mol of silver at room temperature. What pressure rise would be required to impart 1 J of work to 1 mol of alumina at room temperature? For alumina take the molar volume to be 25.715 (cc/mol) and (BETA)=8*10^(-7) (atm)^(-1).
For silver, the molar volume is 10.27 (cc/mol) and (BETA)= 9.93*10^(-6)
Beta is the coefficient of compressibility

Homework Equations


Mechanical Work= -PdV
dV=V(ALPHA)dt-V(BETA)dP

The Attempt at a Solution


I assumed that temperature remained constant during this process. I know that the answer should be 9.6*(10)^6 atm for silver and 978 atm for alumina. I have been getting 140041 atm for silver and 311800 atm for alumina. The attempt is attached below. Any ideas as to what I'm doing wrong? Thanks in advance!
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I can't open your attachment. Have you uploaded the file?
 
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Sorry, thought I attached the image to the original post

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Chestermiller said:
I can't open your attachment. Have you uploaded the file?

I just realized what I was doing wrong. I needed to convert the mechanical work (in Joules) to units of cm^3 atm. This gives me the right answer for alumina, but I'm getting 1461.34 atm for silver. Attached below is the work with the conversions in mind

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Matt James said:
I just realized what I was doing wrong. I needed to convert the mechanical work (in Joules) to units of cm^3 atm. This gives me the right answer for alumina, but I'm getting 1461.34 atm for silver. Attached below is the work with the conversions in mind

View attachment 214291
This result doesn't seem to agree with your result shown on the paper. Please show your work, including the substitutions.

I confirm the 979 atm for alumina. For silver, from the data given, I get 440 atm.
 
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Chestermiller said:
This result doesn't seem to agree with your result shown on the paper. Please show your work, including the substitutions.

I confirm the 979 atm for alumina. For silver, from the data given, I get 440 atm.
Here's the work for the silver sample, I'm still getting 1461 atm
unnamed-3.jpg
 

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Matt James said:
Here's the work for the silver sample, I'm still getting 1461 atm
View attachment 214295
It looks like you used the wrong value of beta in your calculation. Otherwise, nicely done.
 
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Chestermiller said:
It looks like you used the wrong value of beta in your calculation. Otherwise, nicely done.
Okay, thank you!
 
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