Thermal Physics · Problem 9

Heat and Work — Charles Kittel & Herbert Kroemer

Physics — Statistical Mechanics · cooling-nonmetallic-solid-to-zero

Problem

Cooling of nonmetallic solid to T=0T = 0. We saw in Chapter 4 that the heat capacity of nonmetallic solids at sufficiently low temperatures is proportional to T3T^3, as C=aT3C = aT^3. Assume it were possible to cool a piece of such a solid to T=0T = 0 by means of a reversible refrigerator that uses the solid specimen as its (varying!) low-temperature reservoir, and for which the high-temperature reservoir has a fixed temperature ThT_h equal to the initial temperature TiT_i of the solid. Find an expression for the electrical energy required.

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