- #1
Smacal1072
- 59
- 0
Hi All,
My textbook mentions that the coefficient of refrigeration for a Carnot refrigerator acting between a hot reservoir [tex]T_{H}[/tex] and a cold reservoir [tex]T_{C}[/tex] is
[tex]K_{Carnot} = \frac{T_C}{T_H - T_C}[/tex]
This got me wondering - Suppose you had 1 kg of ice at it's melting point, and 1 kg of water at it's freezing point. So suppose the ice is [tex]T_{C}=0[/tex] Celsius and the water is [tex]T_H=0^{o}[/tex] Celsius.
Now suppose I have a Carnot fridge (I know they don't exist...), and I slowly heat the ice until all of it melts and slowly cool the water until all of it freezes. Since the temperature difference is zero during this process, the coefficient of refrigeration is infinity. Am I allowed to do this, expending almost no work?
My textbook mentions that the coefficient of refrigeration for a Carnot refrigerator acting between a hot reservoir [tex]T_{H}[/tex] and a cold reservoir [tex]T_{C}[/tex] is
[tex]K_{Carnot} = \frac{T_C}{T_H - T_C}[/tex]
This got me wondering - Suppose you had 1 kg of ice at it's melting point, and 1 kg of water at it's freezing point. So suppose the ice is [tex]T_{C}=0[/tex] Celsius and the water is [tex]T_H=0^{o}[/tex] Celsius.
Now suppose I have a Carnot fridge (I know they don't exist...), and I slowly heat the ice until all of it melts and slowly cool the water until all of it freezes. Since the temperature difference is zero during this process, the coefficient of refrigeration is infinity. Am I allowed to do this, expending almost no work?