Some Study Questions for the First Midterm

  1. What is the relation between pressure and temperature at constant volume? Qualitatively explain why this relation exists.

  2. What are some of the things that temperature is a measure of?

  3. There are two isolated chambers. In chamber 1 there are 100 particles at temperature of 100K. In chamber 2 there are 200 particles at temperature 200K. If the chambers are mixed, what will the equilibrium temperature be?

  4. Qualitatively explain why heat flows from hot to cold regions, ALWAYS!

  5. Give a brief definition of Energy

  6. An ideal gas has an initial pressure of 25 atom and a Volume of 10 cubic liters. The initial temperature is 300K. I reduce the volume by a factor of 2 and notice that the pressure has increased by a factor of 4. What will the temperature now be?

  7. Describe an experiment that could be done to approximately estimate what the value of absolute zero is in units of degrees Celcius (hint: we did this experiment in class).

  8. I measure some gas particles in a box to have a mean particle speed of 2000 meters per second at a temperature of 1000K. I now replace that gas with a new gas and notice that the MPS has decreased to 500 meters per second at the same temperature. Give a qualitative explanation for why the MPS has been reduced.

  9. Concisely state the Law of Energy Conservation

  10. Qualitatively explain what happens to the distribution of particle speeds in a gas as the gas is heated. You need to say more than the simple fact that the mean particle speed increases.

  11. Qualitatively explain the difference betwen convection and conduction.

  12. What property of a material makes that material a good conductor of heat?

  13. What material properties are required to make some material a good thermal mass? In nature, what materials meet this requirement?

  14. Briefly explain the concept of the specific heat of a material.


  15. Qualitatively explain the behavior shown in this diagram.

  16. Qualitatively explain what causes the expansion of materials (e.g. a metal rod) when it is heated.

  17. What is the concept of entropy? Give an example of entropy in action.

  18. Show that wavelength times frequency is a velocity

  19. What harmonic is shown here?

  20. What is the doppler effect?

  21. Explain what the difference is between a sound wave and a light wave.

  22. Explain why a sound wave can not propogate in a vacuum

  23. Explain how the concept or resonance pertains to musical instruments?

  24. Physically explain why the pitch of Noelle's picollo was higher than her flute.

    Stuff from Stan