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Liquid oxygen at 50 K is heated to 300 K at a constant pressure of 1 atm. The rate of heating is constant. Which one of the graphs in the figure represents the variation of temperature with time?

Asked in CBSE AIPMT 2012 · Temperature vs heat-supplied graphs

Figure: Temperature vs heat-supplied graphs
Answer: (1) Graph A

Step-by-step solution

Given: liquid oxygen at 50 K heated to 300 K at 1 atm, heat supplied at a constant rate.

Idea: while the substance stays in one phase the heat raises its temperature; while it changes phase the heat goes into the latent heat and the temperature holds still.

Constant heating rate (dQ)/(dt)=P gives (dT)/(dt)=P/(ms), a constant, so each single-phase stretch is a straight line.

Stage 1: the liquid warms from 50 K to its boiling point along a straight line.

Stage 2: the liquid boils, and the temperature stays fixed while the whole sample vaporises, giving a horizontal step.

Stage 3: the gas warms on towards 300 K along a second straight line, less steep or steeper according to the specific heat of the gas.

A rising line, then a plateau, then a rising line: that is graph A.

Why the other options are wrong

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