Imagine that the cylinder from the previous questions is no longer thermally insulated, and the piston is locked in place. the gas is initially at room temperature. the cylinder is then placed into boiling water and reaches thermal equilibrium with the water. we refer to this process as process 2. in process 2, do the following quantities increase, decrease, or remain the same? explain.

answer: the potential energy decreases from 379 j to 243 j

explanation:

for the law of conservation of energy, the total energy in a system must be conserved. the total energy of the system is given by the sum of kinetic (k) and potential (u) energy:

e = k + u

the total energy is e=675 j, and this does not change.

initially, the kinetic energy is k=296 j, so the potential energy is

at the end, the kinetic energy is k=432 j, so the potential energy is

so, we see that the potential energy has decreased from 379 j to 243 j.