Second Law of Thermodynamics Brij Bhooshan

Basic & Applied Thermodynamics

Problems of Practices
on
Second Law of Thermodynamics

Prepared By
Brij Bhooshan
Asst. Professor
B. S. A. College of Engg. And Technology
Mathura, Uttar Pradesh, (India)

Supported By:
Purvi Bhooshan

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Brij Bhooshan Asst. Professor B.S.A College of Engg. & Technology, Mathura (India)
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 Second Law of Thermodynamics Brij Bhooshan
1. What is the perpetual motion machine of the second kind?
2. In the winter season while outside is at 5C, a heat pump is used to maintain the
living space at 20C. The heat gain into the space is 1.1 kJ/s per degree difference
in temperature between inside and outside. Determine the power required to drive
the heat pump. If during summer the same motor power is used to maintain the
space at 20C, determine the maximum outside temperature up to which this will
be possible. Heat lost rate can be assumed as in the winter season.
3. The efficiency of a reversible engine can be increased in two ways: (i) increasing the
source temperature maintaining the sink temperature constant, and (ii) reducing
the sink temperature maintaining the source temperature constant.
Show analytically that the second method will lead to larger improvement in
efficiency for the same incremental change in temperature.
4. Show that violation of the Kelvin-Planck statement of the Second Law of
Thermodynamics implies the violation of Clausius statement.
5. Figure shows a system that undergoes a reversible cycle during which it exchanges
heat with three thermal reservoirs and develops 1000 kJ of work per minute Find
the heat interchange QH and Qc.

6. A Carnot Engine is working between temperature limits of T1 and T2. Its efficiency
can be increased either by increasing the source temperature T1 or by decreasing
the sink temperature T2.
Determine which is more effective. What are the practical limitations of each of the
above methods?
7. A reversible heat engine absorbs heat energy from a stream of hot gases whose
temperature is falling linearly from T1 to T2. The engine rejects heat to a constant
temperature sink at T0. Assuming that any reversible cycle can be considered to be
equivalent to an infinite number of Carnot cycles, prove that the maximum
efficiency attainable for this heat engine is:

8. Two reversible heat engines A and B are arranged in series. Heat engine A rejects
heat directly to B. Engine A receives 300 kJ of heat at a temperature of 427C from
a high temperature source while engine B rejects heat to a cold sink at 7C. If the
work output of A is two times that of B, find (i) intermediate temperature between
A and B, (ii) efficiency of each engine, (iii) heat rejected by engine A and received
by engine B and (iv) heat rejected to the sink.
9. Give the Kelvin-Planck's and Clausius' statements of Second Law of
Thermodynamics and show that violation of either statement implies violation of
the other.

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 Second Law of Thermodynamics Brij Bhooshan
A Carnot engine I operates between two reservoirs at temperatures of 2000 K and
T K. Another Carnot engine II operates between the reservoirs at T K and 300 K. If
both the engines have the same efficiency, determine the value of T.
10. Using the concept of Second Law of Thermodynamics show that it is impossible to
reach absolute zero temperature.
11. A reversible heat engine operating between thermal reversible reservoir at 800C
and 30C drives a reversible refrigerator which refrigerates a space at -15C and
delivers heat to a thermal reservoir at 30C.The heat input to the heat engine is
1900 kJ and there is a net work output from the combined plant (heat engine and
refrigerator) of 290 kJ. Determine the heat transfer to the 30 C thermal reservoir.
12. Consider a Carnot cycle heat engine operating in the outer space. Heat can be
rejected from this engine only by thermal radiation, which is proportional to the
radiator area and the fourth power of the absolute temperature of the radiator (T1).
Show that for a given engine work output and given temperature of the higher
temperature reservoir (TH), the radiator area will be a minimum when the ratio T1/
TH = 3/4.
13. A Carnot engine operates between source temperature of 500 K and sink
temperature of 300 K. It produces work utilizing the heat of 10 kJ from the source
at 500 K. The work produced by this engine is utilized by a Carnot refrigerator
operating between refrigerator temperature of 200 K and sink temperature of 300
K. Represent schematically these engine and refrigerator operations. Find out:
(i) Work produced by the Carnot engine.
(ii) Refrigerating effect produced at 200 K by the Carnot refrigerator.
(iii) Total heat rejected to the sink at 300 K.
(iv) By how much the refrigerator temperature be increased to get double
the refrigerating effect as per (ii) above?
(v) Total heat rejected to the sink at 300 K when the refrigerator operates
as per the temperature for (iv) above.
14. Explain Kelvin-Planck and Clausius statements of the second law of
thermodynamics and prove that both the statements are equivalent.
15. In a Carnot cycle, heat is received at 480 C and rejected at 40 C. The entropy of
the sink increases by 0.0785 kJ/kg K per cycle. Determine the work done per cycle.
16. Two Carnot engines work in series between the source and sink temperatures of
600 K and 300 K. If both engines develop equal power, determine the intermediate
temperature.
17. A salesman reports that he has a steam turbine available that delivers 3 MW. The
steam enters the turbine at a pressure of 6 bar and leaves at 0.15 bar and the
required rate of steam consumption is 12000 kg/hour.
(i) How do you evaluate his claim?
(ii) Next he changed his statement and said that the required steam flow
was 20,000 kg/hour, how do you evaluate his claim now?
18. An inventor claims to have developed an engine which draws 1000 kJ of heat
energy per cycle each from two thermal reservoirs at temperatures 1500 K and 900
K and rejects 1600 kJ of heat energy per cycle to a thermal reservoir at 300 K
while performing 400 kJ per cycle of work. Examine the validity of the claim using
first law of thermodynamics and inequality of Clausius.
19. The only way in which heat can be transferred from a Carnot engine in outer space
is by radiation. The rate at which heat is radiated is proportional to the fourth
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 Second Law of Thermodynamics Brij Bhooshan
power of the absolute temperature T2 and to the area of the radiating surface.
Show that for a given power output and a given T1, the area of the radiator will be
minimum when T2/T1 = 3/4.
20. Two reversible heat engines A and B are arranged in series A rejecting heat
directly to B. Engine A receives heat 200 kJ at a temperature of 421 C from a heat
source, while engine B is in communication with a cold sink at a temperature of
4.4C. If the work output of A is twice that of B, find (i) the intermediate
temperature between A and B, (ii) the efficiency of each engine and (iii) the heat
rejected to the cold sink.
21. A heat pump is to be used to heat a house in winter and then reversed to cool the
house in summer. The interior temperature is to be maintained at 20 C. Heat
transfer through the walls and roof is estimated to be 0.525 kJ/ sec per degree
temperature difference between the inside and the outside.
(i) If the outside temperature in winter is 5 C, what is the minimum power
required to drive the heat pump?
(ii) If the power input is the same as in part (i), what is the maximum outer
temperature for which the inside can be maintained at 20 C?
22. A reversible engine works between three thermal reservoirs A, B and C. The
engine absorbs an equal amount of heat from the thermal reservoirs A and B kept
at temperatures TA and TB respectively, and reject heat to the thermal reservoir C
kept at temperature TC. The efficiency of the above reversible engine is a times the
efficiency of the reversible engine, which works between the two reservoirs A and
C.
Prove that:
TA T
2 1 21 A
TB TC
23. Show that the Kelvin-Planck and Clausius statements of the Second law of
thermodynamics are equivalent. Also prove that all engines operating in the
Carnot cycle between two given constant temperature reservoirs have the same
efficiency.
24. A satellite incorporates a reversible heat engine which operates between a hot
reservoir at T1 and a radiating panel at T2. The radiation from the panel is given by
Q2 = kA , where k is Stefan-Boltzmann constant and A is the area of the panel.
Work out the following:
(i) Draw the system under given conditions
(ii) Prove that the area of the panel for a given work output and a value of T1
will be minimum when T2/ T1 = 3/4.
(iii) Further, prove that the minimum area of the panel will be given by
256W
Amin
27kT14
where W is the output of the engine.
25. Show that 2 reversible engines working between same temperature limits have the
same efficiency.
26. How does a perpetual motion machine of second kind violate second law of
thermodynamics?
27. Two carnot engines A and B are connected in series between 2 thermal reservoirs
maintained at 1000 K and 100 K respectively. Engine A receives 500 kJ of heat

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 Second Law of Thermodynamics Brij Bhooshan
from the high temperature reservoir and rejects heat to engine B. Engine B takes
this heat and rejects heat to the low temperature reservoir. If A and B have equal
thermal efficiencies determine:
(a) Heat rejected by engine B.
(b) Temp. at which heat is rejected by A.
(c) Work done by engine A and B.
28. Which is the more effective way to increase the efficiency of a Carnot engineto
decrease T1 keeping T2 constant or to decrease T2 keeping T1 constant?
29. Two reversible heat engines E1 and E2 are kept in series between a hot reservoir at
a temperature T1 of 600 K and a cold reservoir at a temperature T3 of 300 K.
Engine E1 receives 500 kJ of heat from the reservoir at T1. The thermal efficiency
of both the engines is the same. Determine (i) the temperature at which heat is
rejected by engine E1, and received by engine E2, (ii) work done by engine E1, (iii)
work done by engine E2, (iv) heat rejected by engine E2 to the cold reservoir and (v)
the efficiency of the engines.
30. An engine in outer space operates on the Carnot cycle. The only way in which heat
is rejected by the engine to the surroundings is by radiation which is proportional
to the product of the fourth power of the absolute temperature of the radiating
surface and its area. For a given power output of the engine, hot reservoir
temperature T1 and radiator temperature T2 determine the ratio (T1/ T2) for which
the area of the radiating surface as a minimum.
31. A reversible heat engine operates between 600C and 40C and derives a reversible
refrigeration operating between 40C and 18C. Still there is a net output of work
equal to 370 kJ, while the heat received by the engine is 2100 kJ. Determine the
cooling effect.
32. A reversible engine receives heat from a mixture of water vapor and liquid water at
1 atm and rejects 3775 kJ/hr of heat at 100 K below temperature of a mixture of ice
and liquid water at 1 atm. It delivers 0.386 kW power. Find the number of degrees
separating absolute zero and ice point on Kelvin scale.
33. A reversible engine as shown in the above figure during a cycle of operation draws
5 MJ from the 400 K reservoir and does 840 kJ of work. Find the amount and
direction of heat interaction with other reservoirs.

34. A reversible engine receives equal quantity of heat from two reservoirs A and B
maintained at temperatures T1 and T2 respectively. The engine rejects heat to a
reservoir C at temperature T3. In case the thermal efficiency of the above engine is
K times, the efficiency of reversible engine receiving heat only from reservoir A and
rejecting heat to reservoir C and also if the heat supplied by the reservoir C and
also if the heat supplied by the reservoir A is the same as it supplies in the
combined case show that:
1 T T3 T2 T1
K 2
2 T1 T3 T1 T2
35. A heat driven refrigeration system absorbs heat from low temperature TE and
rejects it to temperature TC. This is run by heat supplied from a high temperature

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 Second Law of Thermodynamics Brij Bhooshan
source at temperature TH, TH > TC > TE. Using first and second laws of
thermodynamics derive the expression for maximum COP of refrigeration system
in terms of temperature.
36. A reversible engine 'A' absorbs energy from a reservoir at temperature T1 and
rejects energy to a reservoir at temperature T2. A second engine 'B' absorbs the
same amount of energy as rejected by engine 'A', from the same reservoir at
temperature T2 and rejects energy to a reservoir at temperature T3. What will be
the relation between T1, T2 and T3 if (i) the efficiencies of both the engines 'A' and
'B' are the same and (ii) the work delivered by both the engines is the same?
37. An inventor claims to have developed a device which requires no energy transfer by
work or heat transfer, yet able to produce hot and cold stream of air from a single
stream of air at an intermediate temperature of 21C and a pressure of 5.2 bar,
separate streams of air exit at a temperature of 1 bar. Sixty percent of mass
entering the device exists at the lower temperature. Evaluate the inventor's claim,
assuming ideal gas as working fluid and neglecting changes in kinetic and
potential energy.
38. A house is to be maintained at 25 C in summer as well as in winter. For this
purpose, it is proposed to use a reversible device as a refrigerator in summer and
as a heat pump in winter. The ambient temperature is 40C in summer and 3C in
winter. The energy losses as heat from the roof and the walls is estimated at 5 kW
per degree Celsius temperature difference between the room and the ambient
conditions. Calculate the power required to operate the device in summer and in
winter.
39. Consider an engine in outer space which operates on the Carnot Cycle. The only
way in which heat can be transferred from the engine is by radiation. The rate at
which heat is radiated is proportional to the fourth power of the absolute
temperature and to the area of the radiating surface. Show that for a given power
output and a given T1 the area of the radiator will be a minimum when
T2 3
.
T1 4
40. A heat engine operates between a source at 550C and a sink at 25C. If the heat is
supplied to the heat engine at a steady rate of 1200 kJ/min, determine the
maximum power output of this heat engine in kW.
41. Give reasons why the Carnot cycle cannot be considered as the theoretical cycle for
steam power plants even though its efficiency is the highest for the given heat
source and sink temperatures. A Carnot cycle heat engine has an efficiency of 40%.
If the high temperature is raised by 10%, what is the new efficiency keeping the
same low temperature?
42. An inventor claims to have designed an equipment which takes in air at 0.5 MPa
and 27C and gives two streams of equal mass of air, one hot stream at 0.1 MPa
and 400 K and the other cold stream at 0.1 MPa and 200 K. It is also claimed that
the equipment does not require energy either in the form of heat or work. Judge
whether it is theoretically feasible or not based on the thermodynamic principles.

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