An ideal gas is undergoing a cyclic thermodynamic process in different ways as shown in the corresponding P−V diagrams in column 3 of the table. Consider only the path from state I to state 2. W denotes the corresponding work done on the system. The equation and plots in the table have standard notations as used in thermodynamic processes. Here γ is the ratio of heat capacities at constant pressure and constant volume. The number of moles in the gas is n.
Column 1 | Column 2 | Column 3 |
(I) W1→2=1γ−1(P2V2−P1V1) |
(i) Isothermal |
|
(II) W1→2=−PV2+PV1 |
(ii) Isochoric |
|
(III) W1→2=0 |
(iii) Isobaric |
|
(IV) W1→2=−nRTln(V2V1) |
(iv) Adiabatic |