J Güémez et al 2007 Eur. J. Phys. 28 1199 doi:10.1088/0143-0807/28/6/017
J Güémez1, C Fiolhais2 and M Fiolhais2
Show affiliationsWe analyse two irreversible adiabatic processes occurring in two thermodynamical devices: the fire piston and the 'fog bottle'. In the first, an abrupt adiabatic compression of air inside a piston causes the burning of a small paper piece, since the final temperature reaches around 750 K. In the second, an abrupt adiabatic expansion of a gas at high pressure leads to a temperature decrease with condensation of water vapour and fog formation. We show that, if the two processes were carried out reversibly, the final temperature would always be lower than that in the irreversible processes.
05.70.Ln Nonequilibrium and irreversible thermodynamics
Issue 6 (November 2007)
Received 13 June 2007, in final form 11 September 2007
Published 24 October 2007
J Güémez et al 2007 Eur. J. Phys. 28 1199
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