Change of

State of Gases
Experiment
By Retriana Maharani

Introduction
The experiment that is going to be conducted will be based on Boyles law which is:
P1 V 1=P 2 V 2=constant
Boyles law can only be used in application when the temperature and the amount of gas in the
system are constant. The experiment that will be conducted will be performed slowly to ensure
isothermal condition. Internal energy is an energy parameter formed from P*V. Another equation
of states (EOS) that will be introduced is Gay-Lussac laws which states that if a fixed volume
contains a fixed amount of gas, the absolute temperature is proportional to the pressure.
P T
Therefore combining both equation will form
P1 V 1 P 2 V 2
=
=constant
T1
T2
These laws are only applicable for ideal gases. In real lives application, Boyles law is applied
when the bubble exhaled by a scuba diver grows as he/she approach the surface. For GayLussacs law real life application is when firing a bullet. When gunpowder burns, it creates a
large amount of superheated gas and high pressure of hot gas behind the bullet forces it out of the
barrel of the gun.
Results and Discussions
The results for isothermal processes are:
Table 1: Data for isothermal compression
Initial
Tempe Press
rature(
o

Final
Vol

ure(b ume

C)

ar)

(L)

25.3

Tempe Press
rature(
o

Vol

ure(b ume

C)

ar)

(L)

27.5

2.69

Table 2: Data for isothermal expansion

Initial
Tempe Press
rature(
o

Final
Vol

ure(b ume

C)

ar)

(L)

24.6

Tempe Press
rature(
o

Vol

ure(b ume

C)

ar)

(L)

23.7

0.35

The results from this experiment shows that by increasing the pressure, the temperature will also
increase it is also shows relation with Boyles law that stated change in pressure is proportional
to temperature. For example, the compression was performed from 3 L of air with initial
temperature of 25.3oC with 1 bar to 27.5 oC and 2.69 bar which showed the increase in
temperature also resulting in change of pressure and volume.

Compression

Graph 1: Graph for isothermal compression

EXPANSION

Graph 2: Graph for isothermal expansion

Figure 1 and figure 2 shows almost the same graph. The only difference is compression graph
goes from right to left while the expansion graph goes from left to right. The graphs are identical
because both processes are basically the same just in opposite direction.
The results for isochoric processes are:
Table 3: .Data for isochoric heating
Initial

Final

Temperature(oC)

Pressure(bar

Temperature(oC)

Pressure(bar

)
24.8

)
65.3

1.25

Table 4: Data for isochoric cooling

Initial

Final

Temperatu

Pressur

Temperatu

Pressur

re(oC)

e(bar)

re(oC)

e(bar)

70

26.4

0.852

For isochoric heating process the measurement was stopped when the heater was turned off. This
step will make a cooling process easier as the temperature happened after overshooting will be
around 70oC so the cooling experiment can be proceed directly.

Heating

Graph 3: Graph for isochoric heating

Chart Title

Graph 4: Graph for isochoric cooling

Both graphs have a linear increase which is to be expected. However, the gradient is different
because heating process was performed swiftly rather than natural cooling which takes more
time as there are no cooling systems thus resulting in a smaller gradient.
Conclusion
Change of state of gases were observed in isothermal compression and expansion and Isochoric
heating and cooling. Isothermal compression was used to compress 3 L of air in 1 bar to 1 L and
then expanded from 1 L of air in atmospheric condition to 3 L. Isochoric heating was performed
from room temperature which is around 25 C of air in 1 bar to 70 C and Isochoric cooling was
o

performed from 70 C in 1 bar to 25 C. Boyles law and Gay-Lussac law played a major
o

importance in the experiment conducted. There are some mistakes happened during this
experiment like parallax error when measuring the oil level volume, sensor rod used to take the
volume measurement is automatically inside the vessel so it may affect volume reading.

References
Coulson, J, & Richardson, J 1999, Coulson & Richardson's Chemical Engineering,
Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann, eBook Collection (EBSCOhost), EBSCOhost, viewed
10 November 2015.