Consider a volume of gas in a sealed container. Assume that we do work on the gas by slightly compressing it (making the volume slightly smaller). Recalling that the work that gas does on its surroundings is $d W = p d V$ , what is the sign of $d W$ in this case?

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

When the volume of gas in a sealed container is slightly compressed, the work done on the gas is positive from the perspective of the gas doing work on its surroundings. However, since the work is being done on the gas (compression), the sign of $dW$ is negative according to the convention $dW = p dV$, where $dV$ is negative for compression.

Consider a Volume of Gas in a Sealed Container dW=pdVd W = p d VdW=pdV

Consider a Volume of Gas in a Sealed Container $d W = p d V$