MAE207

Introduction to Thermodynamics for Technicians

EXPERIMENT 1: CHARLES’ LAW

Introduction :

Charles’ Law states that at a constant pressure, the volume of a fixed mass or quantity of gas varies directly with the absolute temperature.

$$V = c\times T$$

In the formula, V is volume, T is absolute temperature measured in Kelvin, and c is a constant.

Simulator Setup and Data Collection

  1. Launch the simulator. Click HERE.
  2. Reset the pressure to zero using the red valve under the pressure gage
  3. Reset the temperature by pressing the “Cool” until the temperature reads 10 K then press “OFF” when done.
  4. Select Gas A or Gas B. The gas of choice will be in CAPS.
  5. Push the piston three times to increase the pressure
  6. Increase the temperature by clicking “Heat” at about 500K then click “Heat” again to stop the heating.
  7. Record in the Table 1 below, the Pressure, Temperature and Volume
  8. Press “Cool” to decrease the temperature and record four more temperature and corresponding volume in the Table 1 below.

Press “Cool” to stop the cooling and get a fixed temperature reading.

  1. Stop recording data when you get five data points in the table.

Table 1: Experimental Data

Pressure - FIXED [atm] Temperature [K] Volume [l]

Calculations and Analysis

  1. Calculate and record the volume in m3.
  2. Draw the graph of temperature (on y-axis) versus volume (on x-axis)
  3. Determine whether the slope of the plot of temperature versus volume is linear.

Question

How well does your graph of temperature versus volume support the idea that volume of a gas at constant pressure is directly proportional to the absolute temperature of the gas?

EXPERIMENT 2: BOYLE’S LAW

  1. Introduction

Boyle’s Law states that the product of the volume of a gas times its pressure is a constant at a fixed temperature.

$$P\times V = k$$

where k is a constant.

Therefore, at a fixed temperature, the pressure will be inversely proportional to the volume. As pressure increases, volume decreases. The relationship shown below shows that a plot of pressure versus the reciprocal of the volume will be linear.

$$P=\frac{k}{V}$$

where k is a constant.

Simulator Setup and Data Collection

  1. Launch the simulator. Click HERE.
  2. Reset the pressure to zero using the red valve under the pressure gage
  3. Reset the temperature by pressing the “Cool” until the temperature reads 10 K then press “OFF” when done.
  4. Select Gas A or Gas B. The gas of choice will be in CAPS.
  5. Increase the temperature by clicking “Heat” at about 400K then click “Heat” again to stop the heating.
  6. Push the piston three times to increase the pressure
  7. Record in the Table 2 below, the Temperature, Volume and Pressure
  8. Press the down arrow to decrease the volume and record four more volume and corresponding pressure in the Table 2 below.

Press the down arrow to stop the decrease in volume and get a fixed volume reading.

  1. Stop recording data when you get five data points in the Table 2 .
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