I'm stuck on part B of this question:
A system does 125 J of work on environment and gains 79 J of heat in the process. Find change in internal energy (delta U, abbreviated dU)of
a. the system and b. the environment.
A. Find dU of the system
W = 125 J
Q = 79 J
dU = Q - W
dU = (79 J - 125 J) = -46.0 J
B. find dU of the environment
Hmm, 5 didn't work for this particular problem, but thanks for the suggestion
256
To find the change in internal energy (delta U) of the environment, you need to understand that the change in internal energy of the system is equal in magnitude but opposite in sign to the change in internal energy of the environment.
In this case, the change in internal energy of the system (dU) was calculated to be -46.0 J. Since the change in internal energy of the system is negative, indicating a decrease in internal energy, the change in internal energy of the environment will be positive, indicating an increase in internal energy.
Therefore, to find the change in internal energy of the environment (dU_environment), you simply take the absolute value of the change in internal energy of the system:
dU_environment = |dU_system| = |-46.0 J| = 46.0 J
So, the change in internal energy of the environment is 46.0 J.