Education in Physics Revista Mexicana de Fı́sica E 21 010205 1–3 JANUARY–JUNE 2024

The isothermal process peculiarities in the presence of gas leak from a vessel
V. Ivchenko
Department of Natural Sciences Training, Kherson State Maritime Academy, Kherson 73000, Ukraine,
e-mail: [email protected]
Received 9 July 2022; accepted 11 July 2022

We construct a simple mathematical model which uses only the equation of state of an ideal gas and allows one to find the relationship
between the gas pressure and volume in the case of a gas leak during its isothermal compression. Among other results, the pressure may
have a saturation effect, when it remains constant under compression. We present a simple physical explanation of this effect.

Keywords: Ideal gas; isothermal process; gas leak; mathematical model.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.31349/RevMexFisE.21.010205

1. Introduction tential [4, 5]. However, the calculation of such a chemical

potential is a separate and rather difficult problem.
The study of ideal gas laws is an integral part of any thermo- In this paper, we construct a simple mathematical model
dynamics course [1]. It is well known that all these laws are which uses only the ideal gas equation of state and allows one
of a model nature, that is, they are valid only under certain to find the relationship between the gas pressure and volume
conditions. One of these conditions is the constancy of the in the case a gas leak during its isothermal compression. The
mass of the gas in the vessel. Our long teaching experience issues covered in this paper will be useful to advanced under-
shows that students often “absolutize” (in other words, they graduate students studying thermodynamics or can be used in
overuse) these laws, forgetting about the need to fulfill this undergraduate projects.
condition. In most cases, such a requirement is met automat-
ically. However, there are examples when the mass of a gas
changes during a certain thermodynamic process. 2. The model
Firstly, the mass of a gas can change due to chemical re-
actions. These phenomena are the subject of the study of Let us consider a cylinder with base area A, inside which
chemical thermodynamics [2]. The mass can also change there is an ideal gas with molar mass M that is compressed
when gas is pumped into the container. The mass of a gas by a piston. The temperature inside and outside the cylinder
can change due to phase transformations. A striking conse- is constant all the time (the isothermal condition) and is equal
quence of such effects is the Antoine equation [3] describing to T0 . We assume that when compressing gas the speed of the
the non-linear increase in saturated steam pressure with in- piston motion is also constant and equal to v (v is so low as
creasing temperature (at the same time, we often notice that to satisfy the isothermal condition). There is also a hole in
students use by default the linear relationship between pres- the wall of the cylinder with area Aout (Fig. 1).
sure and temperature of saturated steam). Taking into account the equation of state of the ideal gas
Finally, the mass of gas can reduce due to its leakage from (P V = (m/M )RT ), we get for the gas inside the cylinder:
a vessel (for example, a cylinder of an internal combustion µ ¶
RT0 dm mdV RT0 dm P dV
engine) into the environment. For instance, even such a sim- dP = − = − , (1)
ple problem can cause serious difficulties for students. Let M V V2 MV V
us assume that the pressure and temperature of the air inside
a building are equal, respectively, P1 and T1 . What can we
say about the air pressure in the room if the temperature rises
to a value T2 > T1 ? The students commonly misuse Gay-
Lussac’s law and find the new pressure as P2 = (T2 /T1 )P1 .
In fact, due to the leakage of the room, part of the air will
come out, so that the pressure will remain the same and equal
to atmospheric pressure. In this case, only the ideal gas equa-
tion of state is applicable. Using this equation, we can calcu-
late the decrease in air mass in the house.
For fictitious quasi-static transfers with a change in the
number of particles in the system, the first law of thermody-
namics can be generalized by introducing a chemical po- F IGURE 1. Geometry of the problem.
2 V. IVCHENKO

F IGURE 2. Dependence y(x) at γ = 1.4. a) k = 0 (hyperbola); b) k = 3.4; c) k = 8.

where m, P , and V are the mass, pressure, and volume of the 3. The numerical results
gas at the time point t; dm is the change of the gas mass due
to its leak at time dt. On the other hand In the limiting case k = 0 (Aout = 0), using Eq. (8), we have:
yx = 1 = const, that is, the usual equation of Boyle’s law. In
dm = −ρout vout Aout dt < 0, (2)
the presence of the gas leakage (k 6= 0), the integral in Eq. (8)
is not expressed in terms of elementary functions, but it can
where ρout = P0 M/(RTout ), Tout < T0 , and vout are the
be easily evaluated using various mathematical software [7].
density, temperature, and velocity of the gas exiting from the
The results of such calculations at different values of k and
hole; P0 is the external (atmospheric) pressure. Moreover,
γ = 1.4 are presented in Fig. 2.
dV = −Avdt < 0. (3) At the relatively small values of k, the curve y(x) has an
inflection point [Fig. 2b)] unlike the limiting case of a hyper-
Assuming the gas outflow process is adiabatic, we bola [Fig. 2a)]. As k increases, this point shifts to the region
have [6]: of the smaller volumes. The most interesting situation oc-
v curs at k greater than some critical value kcr ≈ 4.5. In this
u " µ ¶ γ−1 #
u RT0 2γ P γ case, function y(x) first increases with a decrease in volume
vout = t
0
1− , (4) x and then stops changing, reaching a “horizontal plateau”
M γ−1 P
[Fig. 2c)].
Such an effect is physically explained by the fact that the
µ ¶ γ−1 rate of increase in pressure due to a decrease in volume is
P0 γ
Tout = T0 . (5) fully compensated by its rate of decrease due to a decrease
P in the gas mass [see Eqs. (1) and (6)]. With the increase of
Using Eqs. (1-5), we get: k (k > kcr ) the value of saturation pressure ysat decreases
asymptotically to zero (Fig. 3).
dV dP On the other hand, the gas volume x (x < 1) correspond-
=− " r #, (6)
V ³ ´2 γ−1
γ
³ ´ γ−1
γ ing to the beginning of the saturation section increases tend-
P P P
P0 P0 −k P0 − P0 ing to 1.

where
s
Aout RT0 2γ
k= . (7)
vA M γ−1

Let us estimate k value. Putting Aout /A = 10−5 , v =

1 cm/s, T0 = 300 K, M = 0.029 kg/mol (air), γ = 1.4,
we obtain: k ≈ 0.8. If we introduce the dimensionless vari-
ables x = V /V0 (V0 is the initial gas volume), y = P/P0 and
assume that at the initial time point V = V0 , P = P0 , then,
integrating both sides of equation (6), we derive:
 
Z y 0
dy
x = exp − q . (8)
1 0 02 γ−1 0 γ−1
y −k y γ −y γ
F IGURE 3. Dependence ysat (k) at γ = 1.4.

Rev. Mex. Fis. E 21 010205

 THE ISOTHERMAL PROCESS PECULIARITIES IN THE PRESENCE OF GAS LEAK FROM A VESSEL 3

We hope that consideration of the problem described in degree of tightness of internal combustion engines. Finally,
this article will help students realize that an isothermal pro- this practical exercise in thermodynamics has a research pat-
cess is possible even with a change in the gas mass in the tern (including numerical calculations and analysis) and can
vessel. In addition, the described model of gas behavior can be successfully used in undergraduate courses or projects.
be used as the basis for one more method of test control of the

1. D. Halliday, R. Resnick, and J. Walker, Fundamentals of search of recognition, Eur. J. Phys. 27 (2006) 353, https:
Physics (9th edition, John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 2011), ch. 19- //doi.org/10.1088/0143-0807/27/2/018.
3. 5. G. Cook and R. H. Dickerson Understanding the chemical po-
2. J. M. Smith, H. C. Van Ness, M. M. Abbott, and M. T. Swihart, tential, Am. J. Phys. 63 (1995) 737, https://doi.org/
Introduction to Chemical Engineering Thermodynamics, (8th 10.1119/1.17844.
edition, McGraw-Hill Education, New York 2018), ch. 14. 6. G.P. Sutton, Rocket propulsion elements: An introduction
to the engineering of rockets (Wiley-Interscience, New York,
3. S. Miller, Applied Thermodynamics for Meteorologists (Cam- 1992), p. 636.
bridge University Press, 2015).
7. Maple User Manual (Copyright °
c Maplesoft, a division of Wa-
4. G. Job and F. Herrmann, Chemical potential a quantity in terloo Maple Inc).

Rev. Mex. Fis. E 21 010205