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Isothermal & Adiabatic PV
AP Physics 2 · Unit 9 Thermodynamics
Learning Objectives
Isothermal: PV = nRT = const, T constant
Adiabatic: PVᵞ = const, Q = 0
Adiabatic curve is steeper than isothermal
Compare work done (area under curve)
Equations
Isothermal: PV = nRT
Adiabatic: PVγ = const
W_iso = nRT ln(V₂/V₁)
W_adi = (P₁V₁−P₂V₂)/(γ−1)
Tags
isothermaladiabaticPV diagramAP Physics 2
T (K) 300
n (mol) 1
γ (Cp/Cv) 1.4
P₁ (atm) 5
At Initial State
V₁ (L)
0
P₁ (atm)
0
W_iso (J)
0
W_adi (J)
0