Q.An ideal refrigerator has a freezer at temperature −12°C. The coefficient of performance of the engine is 5. The temperature of the air (to which the heat is ejected) is
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🔒 Start your 14-day free trial to unlock the full solution →Concept understanding — Refrigerator Coefficient of Performance
A refrigerator does not "create cold." It moves heat from a cold place (the inside of the fridge) to a hot place (the kitchen). That is the first thing to hold in your mind. The cold side gets colder because heat is being pulled out of it; the hot side gets hotter because that same heat is dumped there, plus the energy used to do the work.
If you put a hot bowl of soup inside the fridge, the fridge has to work harder. Why? Because more heat needs to be moved out. The "performance" of a fridge is simply: how much heat did I manage to pull out of the cold space, for every unit of work (electricity) I put in?
That is the intuition. You want a big "heat removed" for a small "work paid."
The precise statement
Let:
- Qc = heat extracted from the cold reservoir (the inside of the fridge). This is the "useful" effect.
- Qh = heat dumped into the hot reservoir (the kitchen). This is always larger than Qc.
- W = work input (electrical energy consumed by the compressor).
From the first law of thermodynamics (energy conservation), for a complete cycle:
Qh=Qc+W
The work you put in ends up as extra heat added to the hot side. So the Coefficient of Performance (COP) of a refrigerator is defined as:
COPR=What you payWhat you want=WQc
Using W=Qh−Qc, we get the standard form:
COPR=Qh−QcQc
COP is not efficiency. Efficiency (for a heat engine) is always less than 1. COP for a refrigerator is always greater than 1 (often 2–6 for real fridges). Why? Because Qc can be several times larger than W. You are moving heat, not converting it into work.
A concrete example
Suppose a fridge extracts 200 J of heat from the inside (Qc=200 J) and dumps 250 J into the kitchen (Qh=250 J). Then the work done is W=250−200=50 J.
COP=50200=4
This means: for every 1 J of electrical energy you pay for, the fridge moves 4 J of heat out of your food. That is a COP of 4 — quite good.
If the fridge were perfect (impossible), it would move heat with zero work, and COP would be infinite. Real fridges have COP values between 2 and 6, depending on the temperature difference they have to work against.
A common mistake: thinking COP = Qh/W or Qh/(Qh−Qc). That is the COP of a heat pump (used for heating), not a refrigerator. For a fridge, the numerator is always Qc, the heat removed from the cold space.
Why the formula makes physical sense …
Step 1. Convert the freezer temperature to kelvin: TL=−12°C+273=261 K.
Step 2. Use the ideal refrigerator's COP formula, β=TH−TLTL, and solve for TH: TH−TL=βTL=5261=52.2 K. …
Rearrange β=TL/(TH−TL) to solve for TH, working entirely in kelvin, then …
- Forgetting to convert -12°C to kelvin (261 K) before applying the COP formula. …
- CBSE 2025Set ANNUAL1 markMCQQ.The coefficient of performance of a refrigerator whose efficiency is 25% is (A) 1 (B) 3 (C) 5 (D) 7
›Reveal solutionSolution
With 25% efficiency, the refrigerator's coefficient of performance is 3.
For a refrigerator, the coefficient of performance is:
β=WQ2=Q1−Q2Q2
where Q2 is heat extracted from the cold reservoir and W=Q1−Q2 is the work input. The efficiency of the equivalent heat engine is η=Q1W=1−Q1Q2.
…
- CBSE 2025Set ANNUAL1 markMCQQ.A refrigerator has COP of 4. How much work must be supplied to the refrigerator in order to remove 300 J of heat from its interior?(a) 600 J(b) 66.67 J(c) 50 J(d) 75 J
›Reveal solutionSolution
Using COP = Q_cold / W, the work needed to remove 300 J of heat with a refrigerator of COP 4 is W = 300/4 = 75 J.
For a refrigerator, the Coefficient of Performance (COP) is defined as the ratio of heat removed from the cold reservoir (interior) to the work input required to do so:
COP = Q_cold / W
Given: COP = 4, Q_cold = 300 J.
Rearranging for W:
W = Q_cold / COP = 300 J / 4 = 75 J
…
- CBSE 2024Set ANNUAL1 markMCQQ.The door of domestic refrigerator is kept open while the switch is 'ON'. Then the room is:(a) Heated(b) Cooled(c) Neither heated nor cooled(d) None of these
›Reveal solutionSolution
Leaving the refrigerator door open while it runs heats the room rather than cooling it, because the compressor's work input adds more heat to the room (via the condenser coils) than is extracted from the room air by the evaporator coils.
A refrigerator works as a heat engine in reverse (a heat pump): it uses external work W (electrical energy driving the compressor) to extract heat Q2 from a cold reservoir (the inside of the fridge) and reject heat Q1 = Q2 + W into a hot reservoir (the room, via the condenser coils/grille at the back).
With the door open, the 'inside' of the fridge is no longer thermally separated from the room -- the evaporator keeps absorbing heat Q2 from the room air (since there is no closed insulated compartment anymore), and the compressor keeps rejecting Q1 = Q2 + W back into the same room through the condenser coils.
…
- CBSE 2020Set annual1 markQ.If door of a refrigerator is kept open, will the room become cool or hot?
›Reveal solutionSolution
Leaving the refrigerator door open makes the room hotter rather than cooler, because the fridge dumps more heat into the room (through its condenser coils) than it removes from the air passing through it, the extra amount being the electrical work it consumes.
A refrigerator is a heat engine run in reverse (a heat pump). It absorbs heat Q2 from inside its cabinet at a lower temperature and, using electrical work input W, rejects a larger amount of heat Q1 = Q2 + W into the room through the condenser coils at the back, which is always warmer than the room.
With the door closed, this Q2 is drawn only from the small enclosed cabinet air, while Q1 is dumped into the room — the fridge cools its own interior while slightly warming the room.
…
- CBSE 2019Set ANNUAL1 markQ.Is coefficient of performance of a refrigerator constant?
›Reveal solutionSolution
COP = T1−T2T2 depends on the temperatures of the reservoirs, so it changes whenever those temperatures change — it is not a fixed constant of the refrigerator.
The coefficient of performance (COP) of a refrigerator (working as a reversed Carnot engine) is:
β=WQ2=T1−T2T2
where T2 is the absolute temperature of the cold reservoir (inside the refrigerator) and T1 is the absolute temperature of the hot reservoir (the room/surroundings).
…
- CBSE 2019Set ANNUAL1 markMCQQ.A refrigerator has COP of 3. How much work must be supplied to a refrigerator in order to remove 200 J of heat from its interior ?(a) 33.33 J(b) 44.44 J(c) 66.67 J(d) 50 J
›Reveal solutionSolution
Using COP = Qc/W with Qc = 200 J and COP = 3, the work required is W = 200/3 = 66.67 J.
For a refrigerator, the coefficient of performance (COP) is defined as the ratio of the heat Qc extracted from the cold reservoir (the refrigerator's interior) to the work W that must be supplied to run the refrigerator:
COP = Qc / W
Given Qc = 200 J and COP = 3:
W = Qc / COP = 200 / 3 = 66.666... J is approximately 66.67 J
…
- CBSE 2018Set hz1 markQ.If door of a refrigerator is kept open, the room becomes hot. (True/False)
›Reveal solutionSolution
The statement is True: an open refrigerator door does not cool the room — it actually heats it, because the compressor's motor keeps doing work and the total heat rejected to the room (heat removed + compressor's work) exceeds what would otherwise happen with the door shut.
A refrigerator is a heat engine run in reverse (a heat pump): it uses external work (done by the compressor motor) to extract heat Q_cold from inside (the cold reservoir) and reject a larger amount of heat Q_hot = Q_cold + W to outside (the room, the hot reservoir), as required by the second law of thermodynamics and conservation of energy.
Normally (door closed), the heat rejected to the room goes through the coils at the back, while the food compartment inside stays cool, isolated from the room.
If the door is left open:
- The refrigerator keeps trying to cool the room air that enters through the open door.
- It extracts heat from the room air (Q_cold) and, using the compressor's work (W), rejects Q_hot = Q_cold + W back into the same room through its rear coils. …
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