SECTION A

1. (a) Consider a gas confined to a cylinder with a movable piston. Suppose that the gas is allowed to push
the piston upward through a differential displacement 𝑑𝑠⃗ with a upward force 𝐹⃗ . Show that the
differential work dW done by the gas during the displacement is PdV where the symbols have their
usual meanings.

(b) A sample of gas expands from V1 = 1.0 m3 and P1 = 40 Pa to V2 = 4.0 m3 and P2 = 10 Pa along path
B in the P-V diagram in Figure 1. It is then compressed back to [V1,P1] along either path A (dashed
lines) or path C (solid lines).
Compute the net work done by the gas for the complete cycle along
(i) path BA and
(ii) path BC.

P1

P2

Figure 1

2. (a) State and briefly explain the following:

(i) The First Law of Thermodynamics , and

(ii) The ideal gas law

(b) The temperature of 2.00 mol of an ideal monatomic gas is raised 15.0 K under constant pressure.
Calculate
(i) The work W done by the gas.
(ii) The energy transferred as heat Q.
(iii) Hence determine the change ΔEint in the internal energy of the gas.
5
The molar specific heat at constant pressure, Cp for an ideal monatomic gas is 2 𝑅 where R = 8.31 J/mol.K

3. (a) State the four processes in a Carnot cycle, and on a P-V diagram, sketch these processes and identify
each.

(b) State the efficiency of a Carnot engine.

(a) In a hypothetical nuclear fusion reactor, the fuel is deuterium gas at a temperature of 7 x 108 K. If
this gas could be used to operate a Carnot engine with TL = 100°C, what would be the engine’s
efficiency? Report your answer to seven significant figures.

SECTION B

4. State Einstein’s equation which represents the photoelectric effect, explaining each term.

Light of wavelength 200 nm shines on an aluminum surface 4.20 eV is required to eject an electron
from the surface of the aluminum.

(a) What is the kinetic energy of the fastest electrons

(b) What is the kinetic energy of the slowest ejected electrons?
 (c) What is the stopping potential for this situation?
(d) What is the cutoff wavelength for aluminum?

[You may use: hc = 1240 eV.nm; h = 6.63 x 10-34J.s or 4.14 x 10-15 eV.s; c = 3.0 x 108 m/s]

5. Suppose that an electron trapped in a one-dimensional infinite well of width, L = 250 pm is excited
from its first excited state to its third excited state. The energies of the electron in the quantized states
may be expressed as
𝑛2 ℎ2
𝐸𝑛 =
8𝑚𝐿2

where the symbols have their usual meanings.

(a) What energy must be transferred to the electron for this quantum jump?

The electron then de-excites back to its ground state by emitting light. Considering the various possible
ways for de-exciting to the ground, calculate the
(b) Shortest wavelength that can be emitted,
(c) Longest wavelength that can be emitted.
(d) Show all these various possible ways for de-exciting from the third excited state to the ground state
on a suitably labelled energy-level diagram.

[You may use the following: ℎ𝑐 = 1240 𝑒𝑉. 𝑛𝑚 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑚𝑐 2 = 511 𝑥 103 𝑒𝑉]

6. On a properly labelled energy level diagram for an atom, show the transitions that give rise to the
characteristic 𝐾𝛼 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐾𝛽 x-rays.

A tungsten (Z = 74) target is bombarded in an x-ray tube. The K, L and M energy levels for tungsten
have the energies 69.5, 11.3 and 2.30 keV, respectively. Determine the following:
(a) The minimum value of the accelerating potential that will permit production of the characteristic
𝐾𝛼 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐾𝛽 lines of tungsten,
(b) The cutoff wavelength, 𝜆𝑚𝑖𝑛 , for this same accelerating potential as in (a),
(c) The 𝐾𝛼 wavelength and
(d) The 𝐾𝛽 wavelength.

[You may use the following: ℎ𝑐 = 1240 𝑒𝑉. 𝑛𝑚]