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Topic: Relationship between Enthalpy and Heat  (Read 3349 times)

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Offline big

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Relationship between Enthalpy and Heat
« on: December 27, 2011, 05:36:54 PM »
As I understand it,  :delta: H = q at constant pressure (and also assuming that no non-expansion work is done).

Then, I came upon an example problem in which an ideal gas is "expanded adiabatically against a constant external pressure of 1.00 bar." Because the process is adiabatic, q=0. However, the :delta: H turned out to be -2.96 kJ. Why isn't :delta: H = q if the gas is expanding at constant external pressure? Does this mean then that :delta: H = q only at constant internal pressure, since internal pressure is changing still?

Offline Yggdrasil

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Re: Relationship between Enthalpy and Heat
« Reply #1 on: December 27, 2011, 08:26:56 PM »
Does this mean then that :delta: H = q only at constant internal pressure, since internal pressure is changing still?
  Yes, what matters is whether the internal pressure stays constant, not the external pressure.

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