What will be the work done on an ideal gas enclosed in a cylinder, when it is compressed by a constant external pressure, in a single step as shown in Fig. 6.2. Explain graphically.
Assumption: The cylinder is filled with one-mole gas, and the piston is frictionless. Let the pressure of the gas inside be p and the volume of gas be .
The piston is moved towards the inside to make the external pressure equal to p. Now, let us assume that this change takes place in a single step, hence, V is the final volume. The work done by the piston is depicted in the graph shown below by shading the area.