An ideal monoatomic gas undergoes an expansion from state A to state B following a process which is shown in the indicator diagram. If initially during the expansion, the gas was absorbing heat and later on it was rejecting heat, then what was the volume of the gas when it started rejecting the heat?

Step-by-step solution

From the graph we can find the pressure of the gas in terms of volume P - P 0 2 2 V 0 - V = P 0 2 V 0 P = 3 P 0 2 - P 0 2 V 0 V = n R T V ⇒ n R T = 3 P 0 2 V - P 0 2 V 0 V 2 n R d T = 3 P 0 2 d V - P 0 V 0 V d V d W = P d V = 3 P 0 2 - P 0 V 2 V 0 d V d U = 3 2 n R d T = 9 P 0 4 d V - 3 P 0 2 V 0 V d V d Q = d U + d W = 0 9 P 0 4 - 3 P 0 2 V 0 V d V + 3 P 0 2 - P 0 V 2 V 0 d V = 0 ⇒ 15 4 = 2 V V 0 V = 15 8 V 0