Gasometers: Cyril E. Power

Through experiments, scientists established the mathematical relationships between pairs of variables, such as pressure and temperature, pressure and volume, volume and temperature, and volume and moles, that hold for an ideal gas.

In 1653, the French philosopher and scientist Blaise Pascal published "Treatise on the Equilibrium of Liquids," which discussed the principles of static fluids. A static fluid is a fluid that is not in motion. When a fluid is not flowing, we say that the fluid is in static equilibrium. If the fluid is water, we say it is in hydrostatic equilibrium. For a fluid in static equilibrium, the net force on any part of the fluid must be zero; otherwise, the fluid will start to flow. Pascal observed...

An Otto engine is a four-stroke engine that uses a mixture of gasoline and air as the working fuel. The fuel is injected into the cylinder, and the piston is moved completely down so that the cylinder is at maximum volume. By moving the piston up, adiabatic compression takes place. The spark plug ignites the gasoline-air mixture, and the burning fuel adds heat to the system at a constant volume. The heated mixture expands adiabatically and gets further cooled by exhausting heat, and this cyclic...

Most pressure gauges, like those on scuba tanks, are calibrated to read zero at atmospheric pressure. Readings from such gauges are called the gauge pressure, which is the pressure relative to atmospheric pressure. When the pressure inside the tank exceeds atmospheric pressure, the gauge reports a positive value. Some gauges are designed to measure negative pressure. For example, many physics experiments must take place in a vacuum chamber, a rigid chamber from which some of the air is pumped...

Consider an adiabatic system composed of two chambers, A and B, designed such that no heat flows into or out of the system. Initially, chamber A is filled with a gas at a fixed temperature T1, pressure p1, and volume V1, while chamber B is evacuated. The gas is then gradually forced through a rigid, porous barrier to chamber B, ultimately reaching temperature T2, pressure p2, and volume V2. A piston on the right side maintains a constant pressure (p2), which is lower than p1. The significant...

Gas solubility in liquids forms liquid-gas solutions, such as soft drinks, where carbon dioxide is dissolved in water, and the ocean, where the solubility of oxygen and carbon dioxide supports marine life. The ability of oceans to dissolve gases impacts weather conditions in the troposphere.However, gas-liquid interactions vary. For instance, hydrogen chloride gas is highly soluble in water, while oxygen's solubility is much lower. Because these solutions are non-ideal, Raoult’s law, which...