What’s up with GAS?

Has this ever happened to you?

HA HA HA HA HA HA

HA HA!

Have you ever wondered about the science behind such wondrous inventions?

Meet Robert Boyle.

Why, hello there!

He noticed that if you decrease the volume of a container of gas, the pressure of that gas will increase.

Pressure is the result of a FORCE being distributed

over an area!

More about pressure…Predict which will sink into the grass: the stiletto heel or the athletic shoe?

The FORCE of the person’s weight pressing down is the same in either pair of shoes.

BUT, when this force is applied to the SMALL area of dirt by the tiny stiletto heel, it results in a great deal of pressure, and the heel of the shoe sinks.

Greater

Pressure

Decrease the volume of a container of gas, the pressure of that gas will increase

Increase the volume of a container of gas, the pressure of that gas will decrease

volume pressure

volume pressure

The inverse is also true!

Boyle “boiled it down” like this:

BOYLE’S LAW:

The volume of a gas is INVERSELY PROPORTIONAL to its pressure (if the number of particles and the temperature stays the same).

Written as an equation,

P1V1= P2V2

Where the left side are the amounts before a change and the right side are

the amounts after a change.

Remember Boyle’s Law?

Our friend sat on the cushion, thus making the VOLUME decrease.

Boyle’s Law says that a smaller volume means a greater pressure.

To relieve the GREATER PRESSURE, the gas in the cushion escaped QUICKLY through the small opening.

Gas had been slowly leaking out of the cushion, but our friend sat on it. He DECREASED the volume, and therefore INCREASED the pressure.

Has this ever happened to you?

A nice warm day…Tire

pressure looks good! No need to fill them

more.

Later that day…

It turns very cold…My tires look

FLAT! What

happened?!

Jacques Charles, a Frenchman, noticed this sort of thing, too.

My tiré, she is all flat

now! Uhn, Hunh!

OK, not EXACTLY like that…

CHARLES’S LAW:The volume of a gas is directly proportional to its temperature [in Kelvins, specifically] (if the pressure and the number of particles are constant).

Written as an equation,

V1 / T1 = V2 / T2

Where the left side are the amounts before a change and the right side are

the amounts after a change.

I knew you were gonna ask that!

A Kelvin is just like a degree Celsius, BUT, Kelvins start in a different spot.

Zero Kelvin is about –273.15 degrees Celsius.

Why? 0 K is a temperature we’ve never measured on Earth, (although we have gotten close). It is the point at which as gas is SO COLD that its VOLUME would be zero liters.

0 Kelvin is also known as ABSOLUTE ZERO.

What would happen if…I increased the volume of a container of gas?

a) Pressure would increaseb) Pressure would decrease

What would happen if…I increased the pressure of a container of gas?

a) Volume would increaseb) Volume would decrease

What would happen if…I increased the temperature of a container of gas?

a) Volume would increaseb) Volume would decrease