Gas Laws and First Law

When placing a hot aluminum can into an ice bath upside down, we correctly predicted that the can will rapidly implode. This is a result of the steam present in the can condensing rapidly into a liquid as energy is lost to the water. As this occurs, a vacuum is created, and the pressure equalizes with the outside air by condensing it's volume, thus raising the pressure.

On the left side is a list of units used to measure pressure. The calculations is for air pressure at sea level (1 atmosphere). 

Our prediction for what a graph measuring pressure as a function of volume will resemble.

This here is what the graph actually ended up looking like. To best fit the line, we used an inverse fit.

The equation best describing the line is Pressure = A/Volume + B, where A = 1409 +/- 63.04, and B = 41.37 +/- 5.748. The units of B are kilopascals (kPa). A is the value equal to the ideal gas constant multiplied by the temperature and number of moles present. As the volume rises, the pressure reaches 41.37 kPa.

Professor Mason demonstrates the effects of temperature on an ideal gas' pressure and volume.

If the volume is held constant, then as the temperature rises, then the pressure rises, and these two share a linear relationship which can best be described by the equation P = mT + b, where m = 0.2427 kPa / C, and b = 93.53 kPa.

We originally thought that the graph representing pressure as a function of temperature would look something more like this.

The Boltzmann Constant is equal to the ideal-gas constant divided by Avogadro's Number. Rather than relating pressure and volume on a per mole basis, this constant relates these on a per molecule basis, and has units of Joules per molecule kelvin

The air pressure in the air pocket of a submerged diving bell equals the pressure of the air molecules bouncing off the water, and the the atmospheric pressure combined.

We rely on the ideal gas law here to find the height of the air pocket in the diving bell problem above.

Since we know the volume, pressure, and temperature of helium inside a balloon at its maximum height, we can find the number of moles of helium present, multiply that by its molar mass, and obtain mass of helium present.