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- Feb 24, 2013
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I was looking why a hot air balloon only rises to a certain height as we heat it up. I came to an answer tha days "as we heat the gas, the gas expands adiabatically and thus cools. Since cooler air is more dense, the balloon stops rising".
I thought that since we are literally adding heat, heat would be added (to expand the molecules) and the process would not be adiabatic.
As we temperature of the balloon goes up, energy would go up right? If the gas was expanding adiabatically,
E=0-PV(work done by gas)
If it is expanding, it would be doing work and cooling.
But how is it cooling...as we are heating it?
I thought that since we are literally adding heat, heat would be added (to expand the molecules) and the process would not be adiabatic.
As we temperature of the balloon goes up, energy would go up right? If the gas was expanding adiabatically,
E=0-PV(work done by gas)
If it is expanding, it would be doing work and cooling.
But how is it cooling...as we are heating it?