During an isothermal expansion of an ideal gas, what happens to the internal ene
Practice Questions
Q1
During an isothermal expansion of an ideal gas, what happens to the internal energy?
Increases
Decreases
Remains constant
Depends on the amount of gas
Questions & Step-by-Step Solutions
During an isothermal expansion of an ideal gas, what happens to the internal energy?
Step 1: Understand what isothermal means. Isothermal means that the temperature of the system stays the same throughout the process.
Step 2: Know what an ideal gas is. An ideal gas is a theoretical gas that follows the ideal gas law perfectly, meaning it behaves predictably under changes in pressure, volume, and temperature.
Step 3: Recognize that internal energy is related to temperature. For an ideal gas, the internal energy depends only on the temperature of the gas.
Step 4: Since the process is isothermal, the temperature does not change during the expansion.
Step 5: Conclude that if the temperature does not change, the internal energy also does not change.
Isothermal Process – An isothermal process is one in which the temperature of the system remains constant throughout the process.
Internal Energy of Ideal Gas – For an ideal gas, the internal energy is a function of temperature; thus, if the temperature is constant, the internal energy does not change.