In the cylinder of an air compressor the energy of the piston is
converted into molecular motion in the air and the result, or the
equivalent, is heat. A higher temperature means an increased speed of
vibration, and a lower temperature means that this speed of vibration is
reduced. If I hold an open cylinder in my left hand and a piston in my
right, and place the piston within the cylinder, I here have a confined
volume of air at the temperature and the pressure of this room. These
particles of air are in motion and produce heat and pressure in
proportion to that motion. Now if I press the piston to a point in the
center of the cylinder, that is, to one-half the stroke, I here decrease
the distance between the cylinder head and the piston just one-half,
hence each molecule of air strikes twice as many blows upon the piston
and head in traveling the same distance and the pressure is doubled. We
have also produced about 116 degrees of heat, because we have expended a
certain amount of work upon the air; the air has done no work in return,
but we have increased the energy of molecular vibration in the air and
the result is heat.
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