If you have 1 liter of liquid water under piston, and lower temperature to -1C, the water will freeze and expand. How much useful work could be done by the piston?
2007-10-30 09:43:57 · 1 answers · asked by Alexander 6 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Physics
Don't have any phase transition tables (haven't used one in 30 years), but if I did, the useful work could be figured out by first finding the pressure need to make water melt/freeze at -1 C. Finding the volume of Water at -1C (which should be just about the same as 0 C), and then finding the volume of ice at -1C (which again, should be just about the same as the volume of ice at 0 C).
The answer would be the change in volume * pressure of equilibrium at -1 C. Note: This should be a reversible process. Also, you could get a tiny bit more work by further decompressing the ice to atmospheric pressure once it is all frozen.
2007-10-30 12:07:34 · answer #1 · answered by Frst Grade Rocks! Ω 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋