An inventor proposes to make a heat engine using water/ice as the working substance, taking advantage of the fact that water expands as it freezes. A weight to be lifted is placed on top of a piston over a cylinder of water at 1°C. The system is then placed in thermal contact with a low-temperature reservoir at -1°C until the water freezes into ice, lifting the weight. The weight is then removed and the ice is melted by putting it in contact with a high-temperature reservoir at 1°C. The inventor is pleased with this device because it can seemingly perform an unlimited amount of work while absorbing only a finite amount of heat. Explain the flaw in the inventor's reasoning, and use the Clausius-Clapeyron relation to prove that the maximum efficiency of this engine is still given by the Carnot formula, 1 -Tc/Th.
An inventor proposes to make a heat engine using water/ice as the working substance, taking advantage of the fact that water expands as it freezes. A weight to be lifted is placed on top of a piston over a cylinder of water at 1°C. The system is then placed in thermal contact with a low-temperature reservoir at -1°C until the water freezes into ice, lifting the weight. The weight is then removed and the ice is melted by putting it in contact with a high-temperature reservoir at 1°C. The inventor is pleased with this device because it can seemingly perform an unlimited amount of work while absorbing only a finite amount of heat. Explain the flaw in the inventor's reasoning, and use the Clausius-Clapeyron relation to prove that the maximum efficiency of this engine is still given by the Carnot formula, 1 -Tc/Th.
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