Two Carnot air conditioners, A and B, are removing heat from different rooms. The outside temperature is the same for both rooms, 317 K. The room serviced by unit A is kept at a temperature of 293 K, while the room serviced by unit B is kept at 296 K. The heat removed from either room is 4330 J. For both units, find (a), (b) the magnitude of the work required and (c), (d) the magnitude of the heat deposited outside for A and B conditioners respectively.

In a carnot air conditioner, it operates like a reverse carnot engine; i.e. it removes heat from the cold reservoir (making it colder) and dumps the heat in the hot reservoir (making it hotter)

For a Carnot air conditioner,

Q꜀ is the heat removed from the colder reservoir = 4330 J for both cases

T꜀ is the temperature of the colder reservoir (temperature of the rooms) = 293 K and 296 K for both cases to be considered.

Qₕ is the heat deposited in the warmer reservoir = ? for both cases

Tₕ is the temperature of the hot reservoir (temperature of outside) = 317 K for both cases.

For Carnot air conditioners,

Qₕ = W + Q꜀ (eqn 1)

And

(Qₕ/Tₕ) - (Q꜀/T꜀) = 0 (eqn 2)

Making Qₕ the subject of formula in eqn 2

Qₕ = Tₕ (Q꜀/T꜀)

Substituting this into eqn 1

Tₕ (Q꜀/T꜀) = W + Q꜀

Q꜀ (Tₕ/T꜀) - Q꜀ = W

Q꜀ [(Tₕ - T꜀)/T꜀ ] = W

W = Q꜀ [ (Tₕ - T꜀)/T꜀ ]

For the air conditioner A,

T꜀ = 293 K, Tₕ = 317 K, Q꜀ = 4330 J, W = ?

W = Q꜀ [ (Tₕ - T꜀)/T꜀ ] = 4330 [ (317 - 293)/293] = 354.7 J

For the air conditioner B,

T꜀ = 296 K, Tₕ = 317 K, Q꜀ = 4330 J, W = ?

W = Q꜀ [ (Tₕ - T꜀)/T꜀ ] = 4330 [ (317 - 296)/296] = 310.3 J

c) Qₕ = W + Q꜀

For conditioner A,

Qₕ = 354.7 + 4330 = 4684.7 J

For conditioner B,

Qₕ = 310.3 + 4330 = 4640.3 J