Gases (Boyle's Law)
17 December, 2023

Gases (Boyle's Law)

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Introduction:

Gases react significantly to changes in their surrounding conditions, exhibiting predictable responses to various key factors. The behavior of gases is influenced by changes in pressure, temperature, volume, and the number of particles. In this introduction, we will briefly review how gases interact with these factors and how we can predict these changes using the fundamental laws of gases. These laws include Boyle's Law, which relates to pressure and volume, Charles's Law, which relates to volume and temperature, and Avogadro's Law, which relates to volume and the number of particles. By understanding these laws, we empower ourselves to predict the behavior of gases under a variety of conditions, contributing to wide-ranging applications in science and industry.

 

Article Elements:

1. Chemical Facts:

2. Boyle's Law:

3. Plotting the Relationship between Temperature and Volume:

4. Conclusion:

 

Chemical Facts:

The temperature inside a hot air balloon is sufficient to boil water. In the 19th century, scientists like Joseph Gay-Lussac used hot air balloons in their research and experiments, while Jack Charles used hydrogen balloons in his experiments. On average, a hot air balloon contains 2.5 million liters of gas.

 

What happens to gas in a balloon if you reduce its volume by applying pressure?

Boyle's Law:

The pressure of gas and its volume are interrelated. The Irish scientist Robert Boyle (1627-1691 CE) described this relationship. Boyle designed an experiment, as illustrated in Figure 1-4, demonstrating that if the quantity of gas and temperature remain constant, doubling the pressure on the gas reduces its volume by half. Conversely, reducing the pressure on the gas to half doubles its volume. This inverse relationship, where one variable increases as the other decreases, is described by Boyle's Law, stating that the volume of a specific quantity of gas is inversely proportional to the pressure applied to it at a constant temperature. The graphical representation in Figure 1- shows the inverse relationship between pressure and volume as the curve slopes downward. Note that the product of pressure and volume at each point in Figure 1-4 equals 10 atm.liters, allowing Boyle's Law to be expressed mathematically as follows:

 

Boyle's Law: P1V1 = P2V2

The product of the pressure of a specific quantity of gas and its volume at a constant temperature equals a constant quantity. Here, P1 and V1 represent the initial pressure and volume, while P2 and V2 represent the new pressure and volume. If three of the variables in the equation are known, the value of the fourth variable can be determined. Unlike Figure 1-4, where external pressure affects the piston in addition to atmospheric pressure, the piston in Figure 2-4 remains free to move. This means that the gas in the cylinder raises the piston until its pressure equals atmospheric pressure. As observed, the volume of the confined gas increases at 1 atm with an increase in temperature in the cylinder, so the distance the piston moves becomes a measure of the gas volume when heated.

 

Plotting the Relationship between Temperature and Volume:

Figure 2-4 also illustrates the relationship between temperature and volume for a fixed quantity of gas under the influence of constant pressure. The temperature vs. volume curve is a straight line, allowing you to predict the temperature at which the volume becomes 0 by extending the line to lower temperatures than those measured. In the first graph, the temperature at which the volume becomes 0 is 273, so this relationship is linear but not directly proportional. For example, you can observe that the straight line does not pass through the origin, and doubling the temperature from 25 to 500 does not result in doubling the volume. The graphical representation in Figure 2- shows that the relationship between temperature measured in Kelvin (K) and volume is a direct proportional relationship; where 0 volume corresponds to 0 Kelvin, and doubling the temperature doubles the volume. The zero on the Kelvin scale is known as absolute zero, representing the lowest possible temperature where atomic energy is at its minimum.

 

Conclusion:

1. Boyle's Law contributes to our understanding of how gases react to changes in their surrounding conditions, specifically regarding pressure and volume. Understanding this inverse relationship between pressure and volume allows us to predict the behavior of gases under different conditions and multiple applications in the fields of science and industry.

2. The chemical facts presented about the use of hot air balloons and gases in scientific experiments serve as strong evidence for understanding the impact of pressure and volume on the behavior of gases.

3. Scientists like Joseph Gay-Lussac and Jack Charles conducted experiments using different balloons, and these experiments were a source of admiration and inspiration for many subsequent researchers and scientists.

4. The fundamental laws of gases, such as Boyle's Law, demonstrate a crucial role in interpreting and understanding chemical and physical phenomena witnessed in our daily lives. These fundamental laws enable us to access detailed information about the behavior of gases, contributing to the development of technologies and applications based on gas reactions in various fields.

 

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