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Related rates with the ideal gas law

A fixed amount of n=5n = 5 moles of an ideal gas obeys the ideal gas law PV=nRTPV = nRT, where R=8.314 J/(mol⋅K)R = 8.314\ \text{J/(mol·K)}, PP is pressure in pascals, VV is volume in cubic meters, and TT is temperature in kelvin. At a certain instant, the volume is V=2 m3V = 2\ \text{m}^3 and is increasing at a rate of dVdt=0.3 m3/s\frac{dV}{dt} = 0.3\ \text{m}^3/\text{s}. At that same instant, the pressure is P=10,000 PaP = 10{,}000\ \text{Pa} and is decreasing at a rate of dPdt=−50 Pa/s\frac{dP}{dt} = -50\ \text{Pa/s}.

Find the rate at which the temperature TT is changing at this instant, dTdt\frac{dT}{dt}, in kelvin per second.

Hint

Differentiate PV=nRTPV = nRT implicitly with respect to tt, applying the product rule to the left side since both PP and VV depend on tt. Then solve for dTdt\frac{dT}{dt} and substitute the given numerical values.

Step-by-step solution

Starting from PV=nRTPV = nRT, differentiate both sides with respect to tt, treating PP, VV, and TT as functions of time while nn and RR are constants. The left side requires the product rule: ddt(PV)=PdVdt+VdPdt\frac{d}{dt}(PV) = P\frac{dV}{dt} + V\frac{dP}{dt}. This gives PdVdt+VdPdt=nRdTdt.P\frac{dV}{dt} + V\frac{dP}{dt} = nR\frac{dT}{dt}.

Solve for dTdt\frac{dT}{dt}: dTdt=PdVdt+VdPdtnR.\frac{dT}{dt} = \frac{P\frac{dV}{dt} + V\frac{dP}{dt}}{nR}. Substituting P=10000P = 10000, dVdt=0.3\frac{dV}{dt} = 0.3, V=2V = 2, dPdt=−50\frac{dP}{dt} = -50, n=5n = 5, and R=8.314R = 8.314, the numerator is 10000(0.3)+2(−50)=3000−100=290010000(0.3) + 2(-50) = 3000 - 100 = 2900, and the denominator is 5(8.314)=41.575(8.314) = 41.57. Thus dTdt≈69.76 K/s\frac{dT}{dt} \approx 69.76\ \text{K/s}.

Direction of temperature change

Hint
Step-by-step solution

The temperature is increasing. In part a, dT/dt was computed to be approximately 69.76 kelvin per second, which is a positive value, meaning temperature rises at that instant even though pressure is falling, because volume is increasing quickly enough to dominate the combined effect.

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