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http://dx.doi.org/10.3938/NPSM.63.606

Science High School Students' Understanding of the Movement of an Irreversible Adiabatic System Toward an Equilibrium State  

Lee, Juhyeon (Sejong Science High School)
Song, Jinwoong (Department of Physics Education, Seoul National University)
Publication Information
New Physics: Sae Mulli / v.63, no.6, 2013 , pp. 606-619 More about this Journal
Abstract
This study investigated students' understanding of the movement of an adiabatic system toward an equilibrium state when the system changed irreversibly. The participants were 140 Korean students at a science high school, who had learned thermodynamics in their introductory physics class. A questionnaire that contained two situations, are involving an adiabatic double chamber and the other involving an adiabatic vertical syringe, was given to the students. The analysis showed that the students frequently used the formula '$pV^{\gamma}$ = constant' without any consideration of whether the process was reversible or not, although this formula should only be used for reversible adiabatic processes. In addition, the students predicted that the pistons for an adiabatic box or an adiabatic syringe would oscillate eternally because the students believed that the term 'adiabatic' indicated conservation of mechanical energy. They did not recognize the fact that the second law was derived from collisions among many particles, and they suffered from difficulties in predicting the final state of a system after an irreversible process had been completed.
Keywords
Irreversible process; The second law of thermodynamics; Adiabatic process; Thermodynamic equilibrium;
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