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Back to 15.1 The First Law of Thermodynamics

15.1 Exercise 1

Avg difficulty 2.5

A cylinder is divided in half by a movable disk in the middle. Each half is filled with an equal number of gas molecules, but one half is at a higher temperature than the other. Which choice best describes what happens next?

  1. Nothing.
  2. The high temperature side expands, compressing the low temperature side.
  3. Heat moves from hot to cold, so the low temperature side will gradually increase in temperature and expand
  4. (b) happens quickly, but after that (c) happens more slowly.

OpenStax College Physics 2e, 15.1 The First Law of Thermodynamics, exercise 1

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Adapted from College Physics © 2022 Rice University. Licensed under CC BY 4.0. Sources: College Physics 2e, College Physics for AP® Courses 2e. Imported at revision f98d7a7.