Revisiting the fog bottle experiment

Abstract

© 2016 IOP Publishing Ltd. In this article we propose an irreversible adiabatic expansion model, modified from previous work, to explain the fog bottle experiment. Our model divides the phenomenon into five thermodynamic states, and we include in our calculation irreversible work pushing a stopper out of the bottle and heat gain from the condensation of saturated vapour. In the experiment, thermodynamic variables including pressure and temperature as functions of time were measured. The work done in pushing the stopper out was measured and the condensation heat was determined using the Clausius-Clapeyron equation to determine saturated vapour pressure. As a result, fog formation was explained through a phase diagram of water showing the saturated vapour pressure during irreversible adiabatic expansion. Also, state variables (P, V and T) and the entropy change of the real process were compared with the reversible and irreversible adiabatic expansion and our modified process. Using a P-T diagram, we show that the amount of reversible work is always higher than the amount of irreversible work, due to dissipative work. According to our modified model, the dissipative work and the heat transferred from condensation cause irreversibility or .