Temp, Expansion, Gas Law

。C range
β (units 10-3) H2O
10-20	0.15
20-30	0.25
30-40	0.35
40-60	0.46
60-80	0.59
80-100	0.70

Volume Expansion Coefficients for Liquids
Clicker Question
• A manufacturer of mercury in glass thermometers
decides to upgrade his product to Pyrex glass, which holds up better to high heat because it has a lower coefficient of expansion. He makes the new
thermometers identical to the old in all dimensions.
• To check his product, he puts a new one and an old one together in water, and heats the water slowly. What does he see?
A. The mercury in the new one rises faster.
B. The mercury in the old one rises faster.
C. They both rise at the same rate.

• Boyle (born in 1627, the 14th child of the Earl of Cork) discovered his Law himself. He used a U-shaped glass tube, closed at one end, open at the other. He first carefully poured in mercury, with the tube almost horizontal so the trapped air was at atmospheric pressure: the levels in the two arms were equal. • He then poured in thirty inches more of mercury, that’s one atmosphere, and found the trapped air now had half the original volume.

Boyle’s Law
• m

• Boyle knew that fast compression heats a gas, so before measuring the volume at the higher pressure, he waited for the air to cool back down. He repeated the experiment at different added pressures. • He found that at constant temperature T, pressure x volume = constant.
P
V

Boyle’s Law
• m
• Charles’s Law
• A century after Boyle, Charles discovered that at constant
pressure, and far from
liquefaction, all gases have the same expansion coefficient, in fact
• This suggests the gas volume shrinks to zero at −273, but of course it liquefies first.
• The Kelvin temperature scale:
Expansion Coefficient for Gases

V(T 。C) = V(0 。C)(1 + T/273)

• T (K) = T (。C) + 273.15
0 K 200 K 400 K T
0。C 100。C T
V ∝ T in kelvins
• a
V
V
The Ideal Gas Law
• We can combine Boyle’s law and Charles’s law to find PV ∝ T for gases well away from
liquefaction. Note this also implies that at constant volume, P ∝ T.
• The standard notation for this Ideal Gas Law is:
PV = nRT
for n moles of gas, R = 8.314 J/(mol.K) is the
universal gas constant.
Gas Law Exercise
• 100.0 L of oxygen at 27.0°C and absolute pressure
10 atm are compressed to 50.0 L. The gas is
subsequently taken to 177.0°C. What is the final
pressure?
• P1 V1/T1 = P2 V2/T2 : so P2 = P1 (V1/ V2 )(T2/T1 ) P2 = 10x(100/50)x(450/300) = 30 atm.
On homework: (1) watch out for gauge pressure and absolute
pressure! (2) the gas law always has T in kelvins. (3) for given
volume of gas and temperature, the pressure is determined by the total number of molecules (which could be single atoms, for
example He) and not by the masses of the atoms. 1022 He atoms
will exert the same pressure as 1022 oxygen molecules at given T, V.