Work done in Isothermal and Reversible Expansion

Work done in Isothermal and Reversible Expansion

Let us consider 'n' moles of an ideal gas enclosed in a cylinder fitted with a frictionless, weightless and movable piston. Let P be the pressure of the gas and P-dP be the external pressure under which volume of the gas increased by dV, then work done in this expansion is
dw = −(P − dP)dV = − PdV (as dP.dV is very small).
For a infinite volume change from V₁ to V₂, the total work done during expansion-

where P₁ and P₂ are the initial and final pressure respectively.

Question: 3 moles of an ideal gas are expanded isothermally and reversibly from volume of 10 m³ to the volume 20 m³ at 300 K. Claculate the work done by the system.

[Hints: Answer: 5.178 KJ]

Work done in Reversible Adiabatic Process

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