A sample of 2.00 mol of an ideal diatomic gas at 400K and 1.20 L undergoes a reversible isothermal expansion against a piston until its volume reaches 3.00 L. The gas behaves ideally throughout, and R=8.314J mol−1K−1.
(a) Calculate the entropy change for the gas during the expansion.
(b) If the same final state were reached instead by first expanding the gas adiabatically to 2.40 L and then heating it isochorically to 400K, would the total entropy change for the gas differ from that in part (a)? Explain your answer without performing additional calculations.