Calculate the minimum work required to compress 2.9 mol of an ideal monatomic gas from 48.4 L to 17.0 L at 22°C.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The minimum work required to compress an ideal gas can be calculated using the formula:

W = -nRTln(V2/V1)

where n is the number of moles of gas, R is the gas constant, T is the temperature in Kelvin, V1 is the initial volume, and V2 is the final volume.

Plugging in the values given in the problem, we get:

W = -2.9 mol x (8.314 J/mol*K) x (22+273 K) x ln(17.0 L/48.4 L)
W = -7.4 x 10^3 J or -7.4 kJ

Note that the negative sign indicates that work is done on the system (i.e. energy is added to the gas) during the compression process. Therefore, the answer is choice C.

Calculate the Minimum Work Required to Compress 2