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Answer in brief · Q2

Q.Give an example of some familiar process in which no heat is added to or removed from a system, but the temperature of the system changes.

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✓ Free question

Step 1. The question asks for a process where Q=0Q = 0 but ΔT≠0\Delta T \ne 0 — this is exactly the definition of an adiabatic process (Section 4.7.3.5), since ΔU=−W\Delta U = -W there, and ΔU=CVΔT\Delta U = C_V \Delta T, so a nonzero WW forces a nonzero ΔT\Delta T even with Q=0Q = 0.

Step 2. A familiar real example: gas escaping rapidly from a pressurised CO₂ cartridge (as in a fire extinguisher, mentioned directly in the refrigerator mechanism of Section 4.9.2) expands so quickly that there is no time for heat exchange with the surroundings, yet the escaping gas cools noticeably.

Step 3. The cooling happens because the expanding gas does work pushing back the surrounding air/gas ahead of it, and since no heat replaces that lost energy (Q=0), the gas's own internal energy — and hence its temperature — falls.

✓Final answer

Adiabatic expansion — e.g. gas escaping rapidly from a compressed CO₂ cartridge or fire extinguisher cools sharply, with no heat added or removed.

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