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Topic: Isothermal and adiabatic processes· Thermodynamics

A gas is compressed isothermally to half its initial volume. The same gas is compressed separately through an adiabatic process until its volume is again reduced to half. Then :

1. Compressing the gas isothermally will require more work to be done.

2. Compressing the gas through adiabatic process will require more work to be done.

3. Compressing the gas isothermally or adiabatically will require the same amount of work.

4. Which of the case (whether compression through isothermal or through adiabatic process) requires more work will depend upon the atomicity of the gas.

1 answer

Best answer

Answer: 2. Compressing the gas through adiabatic process will require more work to be done.

Key idea: compare areas under the P-V curves. For the same volume reduction, the adiabatic curve is steeper because temperature also rises.

Work done on gas in the adiabatic compression is larger than in the isothermal compression, for every gas (\(\gamma>1\)). Atomicity only changes the amount, not the order.

Doubtly AI · 30 Oct 2026 AI-generated · not yet verified Report
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