Homework Help: Work done in Adiabatic, Quasistatic-compression

I assume we are talking about perfect gases so that indeed [tex]p V^\gamma = const [/tex] for a quasistatic, adiabatic process :p

[tex]

-\int_{V_C}^{V_A} p dV =

\left\{ p V^\gamma = const \right\}=

-\int_{V_C}^{V_A} const \cdot \frac{dV}{V^\gamma}

[/tex]

Determine [tex] const [/tex] from the conditions at A.

 

Oopsie, yes I meant "C" , it's the point where you know P and V to start with. Sorry, I always think that A comes before C when I'm not thinking :P:P

Though now that you said, . . . it's also true that you know P and V of point A too, so you could use any:) of course, they've given you two points such that :
[tex]


p V^\gamma = const1


[/tex]
and
[tex]


T V^{\gamma-1}= const2


[/tex]
with
[tex]


\gamma=5/2


[/tex]
because if this was not so it wouldn't be a reversible, adiabatic process.