Recent content by jeff.berhow

In Heaviside's Electromagnetic Theory (1895) he says that "The second law of thermodynamics itself needs to be established from electromagnetic principles, assisted by the law of averages..." I attempted to Google whether or not anyone has derived the second law via electricity and magnetism...

Thanks! Of course it was something obvious. I seem to have a real problem with such obvious things.

I guess, because it's not explicitly stated in the equation: 0x1 + x2 + (1/4)x3 = 0. If a variable has a coefficient of zero in an equation, is it assumed to be one? I feel I'm missing something very elementary here, haha.

Homework Statement Determine a basis for each eigenspace and whether or not the matrix is defective. \begin{array}{ccc} 3 & -4 & -1 \\ 0 & -1 & -1 \\ 0 & -4 & 2 \end{array} Homework Equations Regular ol' eigenvector, eigenvalue business. The Attempt at a Solution Ok, so I've...

I think I'm starting to understand what I'm getting confused on. Our first chapter discussed change in internal energy in the context of any type of material, and the second chapter discusses ideal gases and their change in internal energy. I think I am getting the two mixed up and mixing and...

Ah, sorry, let's say the delta T is 50K.

In an isobaric process of 1 mole of a monatomic ideal gas, the pressure stays the same while the volume and temperature change. Let's take an isobaric expansion where the volume increases by 2m3 and the pressure stays at 5kPa. If the work done by the gas is the pressure times the change in...

That was it! Man, it feels like this is a reading comprehension problem more than an actual physics problem. I was really worried that I wasn't understanding something very fundamental about pressures, temperatures and volumes. Thanks Doc Al!

You're absolutely right, Doc Al. I've updated my original post to reflect that. Thanks! :)

Gauge pressure is the difference between the atmospheric pressure and the actual pressure in the object.

Homework Statement Air that initially occupies 0.140m3 (V1) at a gauge pressure of 103.0 kPa (p1) is expanded isothermally to a pressure of 101.3 kPa (p2) and then cooled at constant pressure until it reaches its initial volume. Compute the work done by the air. Homework Equations...

Alright, it seems you have nailed the source of confusion on the head. I will have to redraw my diagram and rewrite my integral thinking about the relation of h and y. edit: I was way overthinking this. I reintegrated with new bounds and it comes out perfectly. Thanks a bunch, TSny!

Ah, I see. I wish they would explicitly state these things in the question as it seems I am unable to derive them from the pictures, haha. Well, they don't write the books for me! Thanks TSny! I will approach this problem again. Do you think I can keep my origin at the top of the window and...

h = 0.0 meters at the top and h = 1.0 meters at the bottom of the window.

The book (Example 13-3): My attempt: My confusion is in why they are starting their height at 1.0 meters above the surface of the water and then getting a y_2 value of 2.0 meters. That's the discrepancy that's giving me a different value than the book's. It never says in the question...