August 30th, 2002, 9:00am to 3:00pm, EMCB/MEB

Presented by the College of Engineering and Microsoft

http://www.engineeringday.com/

The Challenge Question

For general information about Engineering Day, please see www.engineeringday.com

The Question:

A large plastic syringe contains 100 cc of air at one atmosphere at 27 degrees C when the small "open" end is closed trapping this air in the cylindrical part of the syringe. The specific heat at constant pressure is 1.4 times the specific heat at constant volume. The plunger is now suddenly pulled back and held so the air now occupies 200 cc. Neglecting heat transfer and any frictional losses and looking at the air at the instant, just after the pull back:

Was any work done on the air?
What is the pressure in the air at that instant?
What is the temperature of the air at that instant?
What is the significance of the given info about the specific heats and did you use this in your analyses?

The Reward:

Prizes for solving the question may include:

$20 gift certificate (perhaps to the Bookstore, Ultimate Electronics, Barnes and Noble, Circuit City, Media Play, etc.)
An X-Box game
Windows XP Home Edition
MS Visual Studio
Your very own Limited Edition "Engineering Day" T-shirt

The Rules:

Solve the problem on paper (show your work), on your own* then bring it to Engineering Day, and place your entry in the solutions box on the E-Day table. Make sure it has your name and email on it. There is a limit of one entry per person. We will announce the winners that afternoon. (You do not have to be present to win.)

Good luck!

Thanks to Dr. DeVries of Mechanical Engineering for the question.

* For the sake of clarity, "on your own" means that you should work alone. Consulting textbooks, the Internet, or a library is permitted, but you shouldn't work out the solution with the help of faculty or other students.