Past exam of the physics B course of the University of Cambridge 2012 Paper 2 Section C C12 Solution 2026-10-20
A heat engine's thermal efficiency is net work out divided by heat absorbed,where both heat quantities are positive magnitudes. The last equality follows from the first law over a complete cycle.
Use moles of an ideal gas with constant molar and . For the Otto cycle, reversible adiabats give and . Isochoric heat input and rejection are and . ThereforeThe denominator's temperature difference is times the numerator's difference.
For the ideal Atkinson cycle, heating at fixed volume gives . The longer expansion ends when . Combining the adiabatic pressure–temperature relation with yieldsAlso for . The PDF asks explicitly for ; the transcription additionally names , which is supplied above too.
Heat input remains , while the isobaric return rejects . Hence the Atkinson efficiency advantage from extended expansion is quantified byCompare cycles with the same initial state, compression ratio and heat input. The extra expansion and constant-pressure return enclose positive extra work,It uses heat that the Otto cycle would reject, while is unchanged. Equivalently, concavity gives , so for under this matched comparison. This is an ideal-cycle result; the question's named real-engine application is not needed to establish it.
Original ideal-gas cycle calculation showing the extra expansion work and the matched Otto–Atkinson efficiency comparison
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