This simulation shows animations and calculates work for reversible adiabatic expansions and compressions of an ideal diatomic gas in a piston-cylinder system. Select either compression or expansion using the button bar. Change the final pressure with the slider; the pressure ranges are different for compression and expansion. The grey square blocks represent weights on the piston. Each block represents 0.10 MPa pressure; zero blocks represents 0.10 MPa pressure (atmospheric pressure). Press the play button to start compression or expansion. More weights (grey squares) are added to the piston for compression or removed for expansion.

This simulation was created in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, at University of Colorado Boulder for LearnChemE.com by Neil Hendren and Rachael L. Baumann under the direction of Professor John L. Falconer, with additional contributions by Derek M. Machalek, Nathan S. Nelson and Garrison J. Vigil. Address any questions or comments to learncheme@gmail.com. All of our simulations are open source, and are available on our LearnChemE Github repository.

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