Thermodynamics Example Problems

Ch 1 - Introduction: Basic Concepts of Thermodynamics
Back to Top of this Page	Lesson A - Applications of Thermodynamics 1A-1 - Kinetic and Potential Energy of an Airplane in Flight 1A-2 - Conversion of Kinetic Energy into Spring Potential Energy Lesson B - Dimensions and Systems of Units 1B-1 - Mass, Weight and Gravitational Acceleration 1B-2 - Mass, Force and Acceleration 1B-3 - Units and Carbon Dioxide Emissions 1B-4 - Force Required to Accelerate a Rocket 1B-5 - Relationships between Different Types of Pressures 1B-6 - Force Required to Lift an Underwater Gate 1B-7 - Mass, Weight and Gravitational Acceleration: Keebos and Tweeks 1B-8 - Dimensionless Groups and Equations Lesson C - Systems, States and Properties 1C-1 - Identifying Open and Closed Sysytems 1C-2 - Identifying Intensive and Extensive Properties 1C-3 - Intensive Properties and the State of a System Lesson D - Processes, Cycles & Equilibrium 1D-1 - Bomb Calorimeter 1D-2 - Thermodynamic Cycles in Normal Life 1D-3 - Identifying Types of Equilibria 1D-4 - Identifying a Quasi-Equilibrium Process Lesson E - Temperature, Pressure & Volume 1E-1 - Pressure Measurement Using a Multi-Fluid Manometer 1E-2 - Pressure Gage and Manometer Readings 1E-3 - Pressure in a Tank Using a Complex Manometer 1E-4 - Temperature Unit Conversions 1E-5 - Temperature Unit Conversions 1E-6 - Temperature Change & Unit Conversions
Ch 2 - Properties of Pure Substances
Back to Top of this Page	Lesson A - Introduction to Pure Substances 2A-1 - Think About Tea 2A-2 - Automobile Fuel 2A-3 - Think About Fog Lesson B - P-V-T : Phases and Phase Diagrams 2B-1 - Condensing Water Vapor by Increasing the Pressure 2B-2 - Quality of a Two-Phase Ammonia Mixture in a Rigid Tank Lesson C - Obtaining Data From Tables 2C-1 - Specific Volume of Saturated Mixtures 2C-2 - State of a System at a Given Temperature and Pressure 2C-3 - Water Boils at a Higher Temperature in a Covered Pot Lesson D - Phase Equilibrium 2D-1 - Isothermal Vaporization of Water 2D-2 - Dew Point Calculations for Ammonia 2D-3 - Volume Occupied by 25 kg of R-134a at Various Temperatures 2D-4 - Determine Properties Using Thermodynamic Tables 2D-5 - Relative and Absolute Humidity of Air 2D-6 - Humidity and Partial Pressure in a Humid Ideal Gas 2D-7 - Humid Air and Relative Humidity 2D-8 - Determining System Properties Using Thermodynamic Tables 2D-9 - Relative Humidity, Partial Pressure and Mole and Mass Fractions Lesson E - Ideal Gas and Graphical Equations of State 2E-1 - Mass of Propane in a Rigid Tank 2E-2 - Ideal Gas or Not: Dioxide An Ideal Gas? 2E-3 - Compressibility Factor: Methanol 2E-4 - Equilibrium Pressure When Two Gases Are Mixed Lesson F - Other Equations of State 2F-1 - An Application of Equations of State 2F-2 - An Application of Equations of State 2F-3 - Determination of Pressure Inside a Tank Containing Ammonia
Ch 3 - Heat Effects
Back to Top of this Page	Lesson A - Internal Energy & Enthalpy 3A-1 - Enthalpy and Internal Energy for Ideal Gases Lesson B - Thermo Properties: NIST WebBook 3B-1 - ΔU and ΔH for Isothermal Expansion of Superheated Water Vapor 3B-2 - Internal Energy of Superheated Ammonia Vapor Lesson C - Heat Capacities 3C-1 - Enthalpy Change of Ammonia Using the IG Heat Capacity 3C-2 - Application of the Gibbs Phase Rule to the Triple Point 3C-3 - Liquid Heat Capacities and Specific Heats 3C-4 - Enthalpy Change of N2 Using the IG Heat Capacity Lesson D - Hypothetical Process Paths 3D-1 - Calculating and Using the Heat Capacities of Ideal Gas Mixtures 3D-2 - Heating Liquid Methanol in a Piston-and-Cylinder Device Lesson E - Phase Changes 3E-1 - Hypothetical Process Paths and the Latent Heat of Vaporization 3E-2 - Determination of the Vapor Pressure of Ammonia 3E-3 - Hypothetical Process Paths and the Latent Heat of Vaporization
Ch 4 - The First Law of Thermodynamics: Closed Systems
Back to Top of this Page	Lesson A - Work 4A-1 - Work for a Cycle Carried Out in a Closed System 4A-2 - Quasi-Equilibrium Expansion of a Gas 4A-3 - Quasi-Equilibrium Compression of R-134a 4A-4 - Expansion of a Gas in a Cylinder Against a Spring 4A-5 - Quasi-Equilibrium Expansion of a Gas Lesson B - Heat 4B-1 - Radiation Heating and Convective Cooling of a Flat Plate 4B-2 - Heat Transfer Through the Wall of a House 4B-3 - Surface Temperature of a Spacecraft Lesson C - 1st Law of Thermodynamics 4C-1 - Application of the 1st Law to a Cannonball Falling Into Water 4C-2 - Equilibration of a Tank and a Piston-and-Cylinder Device 4C-3 - Quenching a Steel Bar in Oil 4C-4 - Muzzle Velocity of a Pellet Fired From an Air Gun Lesson D - Problem Solving Procedure Lesson E - Isobaric and Isochoric Processes 4E-1 - Isobaric Expansion of Steam in a Closed System Lesson F - Thermodynamic Cycles 4F-1 - Heat and Work for a Cycle Carried Out in a Closed System 4F-2 - Efficiency of a Power Cycle 4F-3 - Coefficient of Performance of a Refrigeration Cycle 4F-4 - Heat and Work for a Cycle Executed in a Closed System Containing Ammonia
Ch 5 - The First Law of Thermodynamics: Open Systems
Back to Top of this Page	Lesson A - Conservation of Mass 5A-1 - Volumetric and Mass Flow Rates Lesson B - Conservation of Energy 5B-1 - Flow Work in a Steam Pipe 5B-2 - Heat Transfer Required to Keep the Energy in a Flow System Constant Lesson C - Steady-State Processes 5C-1 - Cross-Sectional Area Requirement for an Adiabatic Nozzle 5C-2 - Heat Losses From a Steam Turbine 5C-3 - Shaft Work Requirement for an Air Compressor 5C-4 - Expansion of Steam Through a Throttling Valve 5C-5 - Open Feedwater Heater 5C-6 - Analysis of a Steam Power Cycle 5C-7 - Heat Losses From a Steam Compressor 5C-8 - Pump Horsepower Requirment 5C-9 - Outlet Temperature From a Steam Diffuser 5C-10 - Thermal Equilibration of a Copper Block with an Iron Block Lesson D - Transient Mass Balances 5D-1 - Charging a Water Tank Lesson E - Transient Energy Balances 5E-1 - Charging an Evacuated Vessel From a Steam Line 5E-2 - Charging a Tank With R-134a 5E-3 - Expansion of an Ideal Gas to Fill an Evacuated Chamber 5E-4 - Discharging a Tank Containing Water and Steam
Ch 6 - The Second Law of Thermodynamics
Back to Top of this Page	Lesson A - Introduction to the 2nd Law of Thermo Lesson B - Heat Engines & Thermal Reservoirs 6B-1 - Home Heat Pump COP 6B-2 - Coefficient of Performance of a Heat Pump and a Refrigerator Lesson C - The 2nd Law of Thermodynamics 6C-1 - Is This a Perpetual Motion Machine ? 6C-2 - Is This a Perpetual Motion Machine ? Lesson D - Reversible and Irreversible Processes 6D-1 - Determine Whether Water Condensing is a Reversible Process Lesson E - The Carnot Cycle 6E-1 - Performance of Reversible and Irreversible Power Cycles Lesson F - The Thermo & IG T-Scales 6F-1 - Relationship Between Carnot Cycle Efficiencies 6F-2 - Determining Whether a Power Cycle is Reversible, Irreversible or Impossible 6F-3 - Heat, Work and Efficiency of a Water Vapor Power Cycle 6F-4 - Pressure, Work and COP for a Carnot Gas Refrigeration Cycle Lesson G - Carnot Efficiency 6G-1 - Efficiency and Coefficient of Performance of Carnot Cycles
Ch 7 - Entropy
Back to Top of this Page	Lesson A - The Clausius Inequality 7A-1 - Process Paths and Cyclic Integrals 7A-2 - Properties of Cyclic Integrals Lesson B - Entropy: A New Property 7B-1 - Reversible Adiabatic Compression of R-134a 7B-2 - Work Output of an Adiabatic, Reversible Turbine 7B-3 - Entropy Change of an Isobaric Process Lesson C - The Principle of Increasing Entropy 7C-1 - Entropy Change of the Universe for a Cycle Lesson D - Fundamental Property Relationships 7D-1 - ΔS of H2 in a Compression Process 7D-2 - Calculating ΔS from Ideal Gas Tables and from Ideal Gas Heat Capacities 7D-3 - Work, Efficiency and the T-S Diagram for an Ideal Gas Power Cycle 7D-4 - ΔS and the T-S Diagram for Ideal Gas Processes 7D-5 - Compressed-Air-Driven Turbine Lesson E - Polytropic and Isentropic Processes 7E-1 - Minimum Work for Compression of R-134a 7E-2 - PVT Relationships for Isentropic, IG Processes 7E-3 - Work and ΔS for IGs Undergoing Isothermal, Polytropic and Adiabatic Processes 7E-4 - Performance of an Ideal Gas Cycle 7E-5 - Power Input for an Internally Reversible, Polytropic Compressor
Ch 8 - Thermodynamics of Flow Processes
Back to Top of this Page	Lesson A - Entropy Balances on Closed Systems 8A-1 - Entropy Generation and Thermal Efficiency in Power Cycles 8A-2 - Heat, Work and Entropy Generation 8A-3 - Entropy Production of Mixing Two Liquids at Different Temperatures 8A-4 - Entropy Change For R-134a Compression in Piston-and-Cylinder Device 8A-5 - Entropy Production for the Adiabatic Compression of Air 8A-6 - Entropy Change as Compressed Liquid Ammonia Expands Lesson B - Entropy Balances on Open Systems 8B-1 - Entropy Generation in a Compressor 8B-2 - Entropy Generation in a Steam Turbine 8B-3 - Ideal Gas Compressor and Heat Exchanger Combination 8B-4 - Polytropic Compression of Air Lesson C - Isentropic Efficiency 8C-1 - Shaft Work Requirement for Different Compression Systems 8C-2 - Power & Entropy Generation in Turbine With a Flash Drum 8C-3 - Isentropic Efficiency of an Ideal Gas Compressor Lesson D - Irreversibility and Lost Work 8D-1 - Lost Work Associated with Heat Transfer 8D-2 - Entropy Generation and Lost Work for a Compressor with Heat Losses 8D-3 - Isentropic and 2nd Law Efficiencies of a Steam Turbine 8D-4 - 2nd Law Efficiency and Lost Work in an Air Compressor
Ch 9 - Power Systems
Back to Top of this Page	Lesson A - Vapor and Gas Power Systems Lesson B - The Carnot and Rankine Cycle 9B-1 - Ideal Rankine Cycle Efficiency as a Function of Condenser Pressure 9B-2 - Steam Power Plant Operating on the Rankine Cycle 9B-3 - Vapor Power Cycle Based on Temperature Gradients in the Ocean Lesson C - Improvements on the Rankine Cycle 9C-1 - Ideal Rankine Cycle with Reheat Lesson D - Non-Ideal Vapor Power Cycles Lesson E - Air-Standard Power Cycles 9E-1 - Optimal Compressor Outlet Pressure for the Ideal Brayton Power Cycle 9E-2 - Performance of a "Real" Brayton Cycle Lesson F - Variations on the Brayton Cycle 9F-1 - Air-Standard Brayton Cycle With and Without Regeneration
Ch 10 - Refrigeration and Heat Pump Systems
Back to Top of this Page	Lesson A - Introduction to Refrigeration Systems Lesson B - Vapor-Compression Refrig. Systems 10B-1 - Ideal Ammonia Vapor-Compression Refrigerator 10B-2 - Refrigerant Selection for a Home Refrigerator Lesson C - Enhanced V-C Refrig. Systems 10C-1 - Analysis of a Dual Evaporator V-C Refrigeration System Lesson D - Heat Pump Systems 10D-1 - COP of a Heat Pump Used for Home Heating Lesson E - Gas Refrigeration Systems 10E-1 - Brayton Refrigeration Cycle 10E-2 - Ideal Regenerative Brayton Refrigeration Cycle

Some textbooks do not have enough example problems to help students learn how to solve problems.
In other books, the examples do not teach the students the underlying method or approach
to solving probelms.
In many courses, the instructor posts copies of pages from the solution manual.
Often the solution manual does little more than show the quickest way to obtain the answer and says nothing about WHY each step is taken or HOW the author knew which step to take next.
Here you will find a hefty number of example problems worked out in great detail.
I like to focus on HOW we know which step comes next and WHY certain equations or techniques apply.
I hope you learn quickly and easily from these problems.

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