Rankers Physics
Topic: Thermal Physics
Subtopic: Thermodynamics

Figure shows the variation in temperature (ΔT) with the amount of heat supplied (Q) in an isobaric process corresponding to a monoatomic (M), diatomic (D) and a polyatomic (P) gas. The initial state of all the gases are the same and the scales for the two axes coincide. Ignoring vibrational degrees of freedom, the lines a, b and c respectively correspond to : Image related to
M, D and P
D, M and P
P, D and M
P, M and D

Solution:

To determine which line corresponds to each type of gas (monoatomic, diatomic, polyatomic), we can use the fact that the specific heat at constant pressure \( C_p \) varies with the degrees of freedom of each gas. Since \( Q = n C_p \Delta T \), for a given \( Q \), the slope of the \( Q \)-\( \Delta T \) line is inversely proportional to \( C_p \).

1. Monoatomic gas (M): \( C_p = \frac{5}{2} R \).
2. Diatomic gas (D): \( C_p = \frac{7}{2} R \).
3. Polyatomic gas (P): \( C_p \) is higher than both monoatomic and diatomic due to additional rotational degrees of freedom.

Since the slope is inversely related to \( C_p \):
- Line with the lowest slope (shallowest) corresponds to the monoatomic gas (M).
- Line with a medium slope corresponds to the diatomic gas (D).
- Line with the steepest slope corresponds to the polyatomic gas (P).

Thus, lines  a, b, and c correspond to  P, D, and M, respectively.

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