Why work done on a system causes heat to flow out of it?

AI Thread Summary
Compression of a gas increases its temperature, causing it to become hotter than its environment. If the gas is compressed adiabatically, there is no heat exchange with the surroundings, resulting in a temperature rise without heat loss. In contrast, isothermal compression requires the gas to be in contact with an external reservoir to maintain a constant temperature, allowing heat to flow out. The heat exchange depends on whether the compression is adiabatic or isothermal, not solely on the act of compression itself. Understanding these principles clarifies how work done on a gas affects heat flow.
sycircle
Messages
6
Reaction score
0
I don't understand how compression of a gas causes heat to flow out of the container of that gas... Could someone please help? Thank you in advance!
 
Science news on Phys.org
Compression heats the gas. If it started at the temperature of the environment, it gets hotter than its environment. What do you expect to happen next?

This has nothing to do with nuclear and particle physics, I moved the thread to classical physics.
 
The compression does not have this effect, in general.
You should be more specific in your questions.
Adiabatic compression, for example, happens without any heat exchange between the gas and the environment. The gas just heats up.

You may have in mind isothermal compression.
In this case, in order to ensure the constant temperature condition, the gas needs to be in contact with an external reservoir which will absorb whatever heat is necessary to keep the temperature constant.
If the gas does not give up heat to exterior then it cannot be iso-thermal. It will be adiabatic.
So the heat exchange situation depends on the external conditions, not on the compression itself. .
 
I need to calculate the amount of water condensed from a DX cooling coil per hour given the size of the expansion coil (the total condensing surface area), the incoming air temperature, the amount of air flow from the fan, the BTU capacity of the compressor and the incoming air humidity. There are lots of condenser calculators around but they all need the air flow and incoming and outgoing humidity and then give a total volume of condensed water but I need more than that. The size of the...
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