Consider the provided figure. Suppose U₁ and U₂ denote the changes in internal energy of the system during processes A and B , respectively. Which of the following is correct?

Step-by-step solution

Internal energy is a state function, which means that the change in internal energy of a thermodynamic system depends only on its initial and final states, and is independent of the path taken between them. From the given p-V diagram, it is clear that both processes A and B begin at the same initial state and terminate at the same final state. Since the initial and final states are identical for both processes, the change in internal energy must be the same for both paths. Therefore, U₁ = U₂ .