CE304, Spring 2015

Lecture 1

Overview:

Course organization and UBLearns site

Textbook information
What is thermodynamics and why should I care?
Quick review of units and definitions:
o Pressure
o Work
o Mechanical Energy
o Heat

Quoting from the preface of the textbook:

For a student new to this subject a demanding task of discovery lies ahead. New ideas, terms,
and symbols appear at a bewildering rate. The challenge, ever present, is to think topics through
to the point of understanding, to acquire the capacity to reason, and to apply this fundamental
body of knowledge to the solution of practical problems.
What is thermodynamics?
One answer: a field of science and engineering that describes, macroscopically, the driving
forces for the flow of energy (as heat and/or work) and the conditions for equilibrium within a
system (where equilibrium is the state where these driving forces are absent and the system has
no tendency to change). Thermodynamics does not deal with rates of change, but only with the
driving forces that cause change. In our study of thermodynamics we will also deal extensively
with the tabulation and prediction of the thermodynamic properties (density, enthalpy, etc.) of
materials.
Some kinds of questions thermo can help us answer:
How much energy is released when I burn (or metabolize) a gallon of ethanol?
What is the maximum temperature that an ethanol/air flame could reach?
What is the maximum fraction of the heat released that I could convert to useful work (e.g. to
make my car move)?
What is the maximum work I could extract from a gallon of ethanol in a fuel cell?
How much heat would be released if I partially oxidized the ethanol to give CO2 and H2?
What is the maximum work that could be extracted from the resulting H2 in a fuel cell?
If I am distilling an ethanol/water mixture, how are the vapor and liquid compositions related?
If I react water with ethylene to produce ethanol at some particular high-temperature highpressure conditions, will I have only liquid, or liquid and vapor, and what will the compositions
be?
How much ethylene is contained in a high-pressure gas cylinder of given volume?
If I have a two-phase system formed from toluene and water, and I add ethanol, how much
ethanol will go into each phase, or will a third phase appear, or will a phase disappear?

p. 1 of 7

CE304, Spring 2015

Lecture 1

If I partially freeze my water-ethanol mixture, what will be the compositions of the liquid and
solid phases?
If I mix a liter of ethanol with a liter of water, what will be the volume of the mixture? (It wont
be exactly 2 liters!)
The schematic below illustrates the general structure of thermodynamics, along with the chapters
in which the different pieces are covered in the 7th edition of SVNA:

It is useful to keep this framework in mind; it serves as a guide to both the subject of
thermodynamics in general, and this semesters course and textbook in particular.
And now the adventure begins ... with a review of things presumably learned in PHY 107,
CE 212, and other previous courses:
Dimensions and Units:
To do thermodynamics, we must understand basic physics (like that learned in the mechanics
portion of a first-year college physics course) and be adept at using and converting units of
measurement. In engineering, most numbers are meaningless without units. We will not review
units and unit conversions here, but you should read the review of dimensions and units in
chapter 1 of Smith, Van Ness, and Abbott (SVNA). Pay particular attention to the section on
pressure. In general, while I will post detailed lecture notes like the ones you are reading, and
these will follow the textbook fairly closely, these are not an adequate substitute for also reading
the textbook chapters as we cover them.
IF YOU READ THE RELEVANT LECTURE NOTES AND TEXTBOOK CHAPTER PRIOR
TO THE CLASS IN WHICH WE COVER IT, YOU ARE MUCH MORE LIKELY TO
UNDERSTAND WHAT IS GOING ON.
Example 1.3 from SVNA
At 27C the reading on a manometer filled with mercury is 60.5 cm. The local acceleration of
gravity is 9.784 m s-2. To what pressure does this height of mercury correspond?

p. 2 of 7

CE304, Spring 2015

Lecture 1

Solution: The pressure exerted by the column of mercury is equal to its height times its density
times the local acceleration of gravity, or in symbols, P = hg. We have h = 60.5 cm = 0.605 m.
The density of mercury at 27C is 13.53 g cm-3 = 13530 kg m-3 (where would I find this?). So,
we have
P = 0.605 m 13530 kg m-3 9.784 m s-2 = 80088 kg m-1 s-2 = 8.01104 Pa = 0.801 bar
Work:
Mechanical work can be defined as the product of a force times a distance or the integral of a
force over some distance through which it acts. If F is the component of force along the direction
of motion and dl is a differential displacement in that direction, then this can be expressed as
dW = F dl
where dW is the differential amount of work performed when the force F acts through the
displacement dl. Presumably you did a lot of this in your first-year physics course so it
should not be a mystery.
In thermodynamics, we often deal with the work done by an expanding fluid (or work done on a
fluid to compress it). In this case, the force F is the pressure multiplied by the area over which
the pressure is applied (F = PA). If the compression is done by a cylinder of constant area A then
the change in total volume of the fluid is dVt = A dl. Using these expressions for dl and F gives
dW = (PA)(-dl) = -P dV t
The cross-sectional area cancels out (so the work is independent of the shape of the piston and
cylinder). The negative sign arises if we use the sign convention that work done on the gas by the
piston is positive. When the piston does work on the gas, the change in volume is negative and
the pressure is positive, so the negative sign is required to make the work come out to be
positive. In integral form, then, the work on a gas in compressing it from pressure P1 to pressure
P2 is:
W

P2

PdV

P1

How would we compute this, though? The limits of the integral are in terms of pressure, while
the variable of integration is dV. We need an equation of state that relates the pressure and
volume (and temperature, if temperature changes) in order to evaluate this. We will spend
substantial time this semester considering equations of state.
Forms of Mechanical Energy (Kinetic Energy and Gravitational Potential Energy)
Kinetic energy (EK = mu2 where m is the mass of an object and u is its speed) and gravitational
potential energy (EP = mgz where m is the mass of an object, z is its elevation relative to a
reference elevation, and g is the local acceleration of gravity) are forms of mechanical energy
that can be converted (fully) to work. Note that only changes in, or relative amounts, of kinetic
and potential energy are meaningful, because the objects speed and elevation must be defined
relative to some stationary reference frame and reference position, respectively. Note that in the
p. 3 of 7

CE304, Spring 2015

Lecture 1

U.S. Customary (sometimes called the English or American Engineering system of units) these
must include the conversion factor gc, and are EK = mu2/gc and EP = mgz/gc
Mechanical Energy Conservation: Example 1.4 in SVNA.
An elevator with a mass of 2,500 kg rests at a level 10 m above the base of an elevator shaft. It is
raised 100m above the base of the shaft, where the cable holding it breaks. The elevator falls
freely to the base of the shaft and strikes a strong spring. The spring is designed to bring the
elevator to rest and, by means of a catch arrangement, to hold the elevator at the position of
maximum spring compression. Assuming the entire process to be frictionless, and taking g = 9.8
m s-2, calculate:
(a) The potential energy of the elevator in its initial position, relative to the base of the shaft.
(b) The work done in raising the elevator
(c) The potential energy of the elevator in its highest position relative to the base of the shaft.
(d) The velocity and kinetic energy of the elevator just before it strikes the shaft.
(e) The potential energy of the compressed spring.
(f) The energy of the system consisting of the elevator and spring (1) at the start of the
process, (2) when the elevator reaches its maximum height, (3) just before the elevator
strikes the spring, and (4) after the elevator has come to rest.
Solution:
The whole situation will probably be clearer if we draw a sketch of it:

100 m

10 m

(a) If our reference elevation is the bottom of the shaft, and the initial elevation of the elevator is
10 m above the bottom of the shaft, then the potential energy of the elevator (relative to the
bottom of the shaft) is

p. 4 of 7

CE304, Spring 2015

Lecture 1

Ep = mgz = 2500 kg 9.8 m s-2 10 m = 245,000 kg m2 s-2 = 245 kJ

(b) The work done to raise the elevator is equal to the integral of the force applied to the elevator
over the distance it is raised. In this case, the force is constant F = mg (or more formally, F =
mg/gc to make it work in English units). So, the work done is
z2

z2

Fdz mgdz mg z
z1

z1

z1

W = 2500 kg 9.8 m s-2 90 m = 2,205,000 kg m2 s-2 = 2,205 kJ

(c) Just as in part (a), we have
Ep = mgz = 2500 kg 9.8 m s-2 100 m = 2,450,000 kg m2 s-2 = 2,450 kJ
(d) We use the principle of conservation of mechanical energy (in this frictionless system) to
equate the change in gravitational potential energy to the change in kinetic energy.
EP EK 0

0 2, 450 kJ EK ,after 0 0
EK ,after 2, 450 kJ = 2,450,000 kg m2 s-2

That is, the 2,450 kJ of potential energy that the elevator has when it is at a height of 100 m
and its kinetic energy is zero (because its velocity is zero) is converted completely to kinetic
energy when it falls to a height of zero (where its potential energy is zero). The velocity
corresponding to this kinetic energy is obtained from
EK ,after 2,450,000 kg m2 s-2
u

2 mu

2,450,000 kg m2 s-2
44.3 m/s
1 2500kg
2

Note that we could get this same result by solving Newton's laws of motion for the elevator.
At t = 0, we have z = 100 m and u = 0. The acceleration of the elevator (by gravity) is a = g =
9.8 m s-2. Integrating this to get the velocity gives:
dv
a 9.8 m s-2
dt
v at C , where C is a constant of integration

At t = 0, v = 0, so C = 0, and v = -9.8 t m/s

Integrating again,

p. 5 of 7

CE304, Spring 2015

Lecture 1

dz
v 9.8t m s-2
dt
z

2 vt

C C 4.9t 2 , where C is a constant of integration

At t = 0, z = 100 m, so C = 100 m, and z = (100 - 4.9t2) m

To find the velocity when the elevator reaches z = 0, we first must find the time when z = 0
by solving 100 - 4.9t2 = 0, which gives t = 4.518 s. At this time, the velocity is then v = -9.8
m s-2 4.517 s = 44.3 m/s. We could show (but won't) that the law of conservation of
mechanical and potential energy can be derived from Newton's laws of motion.
This is one of many examples in the course in which there is more than one logical and
appropriate way to reach the correct answer. On occasion, I will show methods that differ from
those in the textbook. In such cases, you are encouraged to try applying both methods, which will
hopefully deepen your understanding of the problem and its solution.
(e) The change in potential energy of the spring plus the change of kinetic energy of the elevator
must sum to zero (again, for a frictionless system), so EP,spring = 2,450 kJ after the elevator
comes to rest (converting all of its kinetic energy to potential energy of the spring). Note that
since the spring is described as 'very stiff', we are neglecting any change in the elevation of
the elevator during the compression of the spring. If the spring compresses a significant
distance, then the gravitational potential energy would become negative (since the elevation
of the elevator would be less than the reference elevation) and the potential energy of the
spring would be slightly more than 2,450 kJ.
(f) If the elevator and spring are taken together as the system, then the energy of the system only
changes when something outside the system does work on it, which only happens when the
elevator is initially raised from 10 m to 100 m. So, initially, the total energy is 245 kJ (as in
part (a)). After the elevator is raised to 100 m, the total energy of the spring plus the elevator
is 2,450 kJ. When the elevator falls and compresses the spring, energy is converted from one
form to another within the system, but no work is done on or by objects outside the system,
so the total energy remains 2,450 kJ.
Heat: See discussion in SVNA section 1.9.
Heat is what we call the energy that flows from a warmer object to a cooler one, raising the
internal energy of the cooler object and lowering the internal energy of the warmer one, until
their temperatures are equal. A more precise definition will require improved definitions of
temperature and internal energy. The first law of thermodynamics (up next) will show us that
heat and work are equivalent for some purposes. As a result, heat is measured in the same units
(joules or btu) as work.
Summary:
After completing your study of this set of lecture notes and the associated material in chapter 1
of SVNA, you should be able to:

p. 6 of 7

CE304, Spring 2015

Lecture 1

Describe qualitatively the scope and structure of thermodynamics

Convert readily between different systems of units and understand when the constant gc is
needed in calculations in the U. S. Customary system

Solve problems involving the pressure exerted by a column of fluid

Solve problems involving conservation of mechanical energy

Understand that work involves transfer of energy by application of a force through a

distance, and that it may result from application of a pressure (force per area) through a
change in volume (distance times area)

Understand that both heat and work represent energy in transit between a system and its
surroundings, and are not properties of the system

p. 7 of 7