Question

Air is cooled in a process with constant pressure of 150 kPa. Before the process begins, air has a specific volume of 0.062 m^3/kg. The final specific volume is 0.027 m^3/kg. Find the specific work in the process.

Answer 1

The pressure is constant, and it is P = 150kpa.

the specific volumes are:

initial = 0.062 m^3/kg

final = 0.027 m^3/kg.

Then, the specific work can be written as:

`W = \int\limits^(vf)_(vi) {Pdv} \, = P(vf - vi) = 150kPa*(0.0027 - 0.062)m^3/kg = -5.25 kPa*m^3/kg.`

The fact that the work is negative, means that we need to apply work to the air in order to compress it.

Now, to write it in more common units we have that:

1 kPa*m^3 = 1000J.

-5.25 kPa*m^3/kg = -5250 J/kg.