DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

MEng 139 - Mechanical Engineering Laboratory I

Laboratory Report No. 6
Second Semester, A.Y. 2020 - 2021

Name: Jino S. Baling Course & Year: BSME - III

Lab Exercise No. 6: Ideal Gas Law

Introduction

The previous laboratory exercise was about the latent heat of ice. In this laboratory exercise,
the ideal gas law is the topic that is to be tackled. From the name itself, the conditions in this
topic are idealized. It is the equation of state of hypothetical gas and also called the general
gas equation. This laboratory exercise will further expound the knowledge of the students in
thermodynamics, specifically ideal gas law, through experimentation.

Experimental Procedure
In this experiment, the specific procedures to further indulge in the Ideal Gas Law is
already given. These are the following procedures:

This experiment requires two states which is the hot or the boiling temperature of
water and with ice which is in cold temperature. Plastic roll bag were used to cover the mugs
opening and seal it with rubber bands. In the first figure, hot water is used and it made the
plastic expand slightly after the cup is submerged to the hot water. The hot air was then
allowed to escape through the small hole that were punched from the plastic bag after the
first observation. The cup was then submerged next in a cold water which resulted for the
plastic roll bag to deflate even more and is then expected to get sucked by the cup.

The volume of each state are then measured. Measuring cups were used in order to
calculate the volume. The first volume (V1) is the volume of the mug or cup itself. The third
quantity of volume is from the third state which is the contained in the plastic bag in the

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second state which will be used to find the second volume by subtracting the third volume
from the first volume.

The volume ratio by ideal gas relation is simply the temperature ratio of the two states. The
temperatures will be measured using a thermometer. These are the following assumptions
that are made in conducting this experiment: Firstly, the pressures of the two states are equal.
Second, there is a perfect heat transfer between mediums. Third, the water, glass cup and the
air in it are at equilibrium in the considered states. Last, the air contained in the cup is
incompressible. The last objective of the experiment is to provide a comparison between the
two methods by calculating the percentage difference.

Laws and Theories

The Laws and theories used in this laboratory exercise is simply the Ideal Gas Law
which is the main topic of this activity. These are the formulas that are used in the entire activity:

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Results and Discussion
Volume Value
V1 250 cm3
V2 169 cm3
V3 81 cm3
Temperature Value
T1 100 °C or 373.15 K
T2 1.34 °C or 274.49 K

The table 1 shows the values of volume and temperature of each state in the laboratory
exercise. These values will be needed to obtain the ratio which will then be compared. The air
molecules in the first state which is when the cup or mug is submerged in hot water has
expanded which also made the plastic roll bag to expand. The expansion is quit low because
of the factors from the temperature of the environment and the small container of hot water
that was used to be submerged by the mug. When the hot air inside has been freed by putring
a hole in the roll bag, it was then submerged in the cold water that causes the plastic to sink
or get sucked by the mug.

Method 1 ratio 1.48

Method 2 ratio 1.36
Percentage difference 8.45%

Table 2 shows the ratios that are obtained by using the formula mentioned above. The ratio of
each methods were obtained from the ideal gas equation assuming constant pressure and the
percentage difference is obtained by substituting the ratios to the method comparison equation
that were given above.

Conclusions
In this laboratory exercise, the students successfully observed the expansion of the
air molecules at high temperature and the compression of it at low temperatures thus making
this laboratory exercise a credible experiment for the ideal gas law. There are factors that
was observed in conducting the experiment which made the observation quite difficult. It is
important to know the laws and theories behind this experiment but it is quite easy since the
Ideal Gas Law has been taught to us ever since Junior High School.

References

1. Engr. Bilocura, C. (2021). MEng 139 - Mechanical Engineering Laboratory I Laboratory

No. 6.
2. Çengel, Y. A., & Boles, M. A. (2015). Thermodynamics: An Engineering Approach (8th
ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.
3. Wikipedia.”Ideal Gas Law” Retrieved August 1, 2021 from
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ideal_gas_law

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