- #1
gj2
Homework Statement
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At high temperatures the nitrogen molecule behaves like a one-dimensional harmonic oscillator. In this situation, estimate how much heat must be added to the system in order to increase the temperature of 1 mole of nitrogen gas by 10 degrees Celsius (for constant volume and constant pressure respectively). Take into account all degrees of freedom: translational, rotational and vibrational.
Homework Equations
Average energy per degree of freedom: ##kT/2##
The Attempt at a Solution
A one-dimensional harmonic oscillator has two degrees of freedom, therefore according to the equipartition theorem the average energy of a nitrogen molecule must be ##kT##. One mole of nitrogen has ##N_A## molecules and so the total internal energy of the gas is ##U=N_A k T##. Therefore if the process is isochoric the amount of heat we need to add to the system in order to increase the temperature by 10 degrees is
$$dQ=N_A k dT=N_A k \cdot 10\text{K} \approx 19.8 \text{cal}$$
However the correct answer is ##70 \text{cal}## and I don't understand why.
Also, I have no idea how to find the heat for the case of an isobaric process since this is not an ideal gas (the answer for constant pressure case is ##90 \text{cal}##).