experiments using gas laws

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Easy Home Experiments Using Gas Laws

Why Does Canned Air Get Cold?

The gas laws are easy to demonstrate with everyday household items. These related scientific principles describe how the volume, pressure and temperature of a gas change under various conditions, and represent a cornerstone of chemistry and physics. A gas law experiment shows what happens to one property, such as the volume, when you change another, such as temperature, while keeping the remaining one the same. The experiments described here are safe and inexpensive and use no harmful chemicals, only air and water vapor. The same principles work for any ordinary gas.

The Can Crusher

The can crusher experiment demonstrates Charles’s Law, the basic principle that gases expand when heated and contract when cooled. You will need a small soda can; fill it with about half an ounce of water. Boil the can in a pan of water for about a minute, and you will notice vapor steaming from the opening of the soda can. Using tongs, grab the can and place it upside down in a bowl of cold water. The can will crush immediately. The water vapor exits the can immediately, and cold water condenses the vapor, leaving the can at very low pressure inside. It happens so quickly that the normal air pressure outside the can crushes the exterior of the can.

The Balloon in the Bottle

Find an empty glass bottle, such as a soda bottle, and fill it with about an ounce of water. In a pan of water, heat the bottle until the water inside reaches a boil. Stretch balloon over the mouth of the bottle. As the bottle cools, the gas will suck the balloon into the bottle and it will begin to inflate inside the bottle. What is happening is that the balloon trapped the water vapor in the bottle and as it cools the outside air pressure replaces the water vapor that is now condensing and emptying the inside of the bottle. Gas expands as it heats, and shrinks as it cools, making the bottle “empty” compared to the exterior air pressure. The balloon expands inside the bottle to allow the exterior air pressure inward. This experiment provides another example of Charles's Law.

The Air Compression Experiment

This experiment demonstrates the power of compressed air. Empty a soda bottle and insert a balloon. Try to inflate the balloon inside the bottle. It is impossible because of the air sitting inside the bottle. As the balloon inflates, it squeezes the air in the bottle. The air compresses but also pushes back, like a spring. Your lungs cannot provide enough force to overcome the air pressure in the bottle. This experiment illustrates Boyle’s Law, which shows that you can compress a gas, though it’s not easy.

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• Classroom Gas Experiments
• Georgia State University: Ideal Gas Law

About the Author

Graham Beckett is an attorney in Los Angeles who has practiced in California since 2006, providing thoughtful analysis and writing on various legal issues. Additionally, he is an avid surfer, runner, and comedy writer, writing and performing in various sketch shows throughout Los Angeles.

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10 Kid-Friendly Experiments on the Science of Gas

Get hands-on with gas as a state of matter in these ten fun science experiments for kids. You’ll discover the awesome fizzy reactions and the incredible power gases like air have! Try these at home with the family and see for yourself. Side note: a joke or two will come with the territory of discussing this state of matter.

(Ages 9-16 )

Splish splash let's add a little science to the bath. These homemade bath bombs are the perfect present for mom on Mother's Day or any day of the year, and include a science lesson. I know my mom will appreciate these fizzy, DIY gifts when she relaxes in a nice warm bath. Plus, I added a personal touch by making them blue, her favorite color. 

(Ages 3-8 )

If you're like me, learning the difference between solids, liquids, and gases as a kid felt just plain confusing. Hoping to make the concept a little easier for my boys, I was thrilled to run across this hands-on science activity from Fit Kids Clubhouse. I'm happy to report that I pinned it, did it, and loved it.

Impress your friends and family with this simple, quick, and super-cool 'egg in a bottle' science trick! You'll learn how to harness the power of expanding and contracting gasses to suck an egg into a bottle in which it would never normally fit.

Discover everything that eggs have to offer with Eggsperiments from the KiwiCo Store ! Use the scientific method with a series of egg-based experiments that explore chemistry, physics, and biology.

(Ages 7-16 )

Fizz, fizz, zoom! This baking soda experiment boat is easy to build and fun to race.

Discover more about the science of pressure with a Bottle Rocket kit from the KiwiCo Store ! Assemble a launcher, rocket, funnel, and launch mixture to experience some extremely fizzy fun.

Have you ever seen hot air rise? In this project, explore the physics behind thermal air currents (hot air rising) by harnessing them to power your own spinning flower! Note that this project uses fire and paper, and should only be attempted with adult supervision. Happy spinning! Check out this video tutorial to see all the steps in action!

(Ages 5-16 )

You don't need high-tech gadgets to make your own hovercraft! This balloon-powered toy is easy to make with household materials and is a ton of fun to send zooming around! We had so much fun passing the hovercraft across a long table. A light push sends it gliding along in a straight path. And, the balloon had enough air in it for a few pushes, which means you can involve a few friends. Keep blowing the balloon up for more and more fun!

Trade your hovercraft for a space shuttle with KiwiCo's Astronaut Starter Kit! This project comes with everything you need to construct a shuttle, paint a set of model planets, and more!

Did you know that you can create your own cloud in a bottle with just a few easy steps? Follow along with this simple DIY (or watch the video tutorial ) to learn about how clouds form, while creating you own cloud in a bottle!

Interested in the science of pressure? Learn about how pressure makes volcanos erupt with a Geologist Starter Kit from the KiwiCo Store !

Can you make a balloon inflate without using air? Sure you can! You just need to make carbon dioxide gas, which is easier than you think. When your vinegar and baking soda touch, get ready to watch the bubbly reaction!

Want to explore more hands-on science experiments without the hassle of gathering materials? Learn about chemistry and design out-of-this-world bath bombs with Planet Bath Bombs from the KiwiCo Store !

Are you in for a surprise treat to share with your friends and family? This homemade version of the classic pop rocks will get you fizzy with baking soda and citric acid! Personalize this candy with your own flavor and experience this chemical reaction in your mouth!

Want to explore more kitchen science experiments? Explore the tastier side of learning with Science of Cooking: Bread & Butter from the KiwiCo Store !

Try out this two-part water experiment! First--why can't you blow up a balloon in a bottle? And, second--what happens when you do...and then fill it with water?

9.2 Relating Pressure, Volume, Amount, and Temperature: The Ideal Gas Law

Learning objectives.

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

• Identify the mathematical relationships between the various properties of gases
• Use the ideal gas law, and related gas laws, to compute the values of various gas properties under specified conditions

During the seventeenth and especially eighteenth centuries, driven both by a desire to understand nature and a quest to make balloons in which they could fly ( Figure 9.9 ), a number of scientists established the relationships between the macroscopic physical properties of gases, that is, pressure, volume, temperature, and amount of gas. Although their measurements were not precise by today’s standards, they were able to determine the mathematical relationships between pairs of these variables (e.g., pressure and temperature, pressure and volume) that hold for an ideal gas—a hypothetical construct that real gases approximate under certain conditions. Eventually, these individual laws were combined into a single equation—the ideal gas law —that relates gas quantities for gases and is quite accurate for low pressures and moderate temperatures. We will consider the key developments in individual relationships (for pedagogical reasons not quite in historical order), then put them together in the ideal gas law.

Pressure and Temperature: Amontons’s Law

Imagine filling a rigid container attached to a pressure gauge with gas and then sealing the container so that no gas may escape. If the container is cooled, the gas inside likewise gets colder and its pressure is observed to decrease. Since the container is rigid and tightly sealed, both the volume and number of moles of gas remain constant. If we heat the sphere, the gas inside gets hotter ( Figure 9.10 ) and the pressure increases.

This relationship between temperature and pressure is observed for any sample of gas confined to a constant volume. An example of experimental pressure-temperature data is shown for a sample of air under these conditions in Figure 9.11 . We find that temperature and pressure are linearly related, and if the temperature is on the kelvin scale, then P and T are directly proportional (again, when volume and moles of gas are held constant ); if the temperature on the kelvin scale increases by a certain factor, the gas pressure increases by the same factor.

Guillaume Amontons was the first to empirically establish the relationship between the pressure and the temperature of a gas (~1700), and Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac determined the relationship more precisely (~1800). Because of this, the P - T relationship for gases is known as either Amontons’s law or Gay-Lussac’s law . Under either name, it states that the pressure of a given amount of gas is directly proportional to its temperature on the kelvin scale when the volume is held constant . Mathematically, this can be written:

where ∝ means “is proportional to,” and k is a proportionality constant that depends on the identity, amount, and volume of the gas.

For a confined, constant volume of gas, the ratio P T P T is therefore constant (i.e., P T = k P T = k ). If the gas is initially in “Condition 1” (with P = P 1 and T = T 1 ), and then changes to “Condition 2” (with P = P 2 and T = T 2 ), we have that P 1 T 1 = k P 1 T 1 = k and P 2 T 2 = k , P 2 T 2 = k , which reduces to P 1 T 1 = P 2 T 2 . P 1 T 1 = P 2 T 2 . This equation is useful for pressure-temperature calculations for a confined gas at constant volume. Note that temperatures must be on the kelvin scale for any gas law calculations (0 on the kelvin scale and the lowest possible temperature is called absolute zero ). (Also note that there are at least three ways we can describe how the pressure of a gas changes as its temperature changes: We can use a table of values, a graph, or a mathematical equation.)

Example 9.5

Predicting change in pressure with temperature.

(a) On the can is the warning “Store only at temperatures below 120 °F (48.8 °C). Do not incinerate.” Why?

(b) The gas in the can is initially at 24 °C and 360 kPa, and the can has a volume of 350 mL. If the can is left in a car that reaches 50 °C on a hot day, what is the new pressure in the can?

(b) We are looking for a pressure change due to a temperature change at constant volume, so we will use Amontons’s/Gay-Lussac’s law. Taking P 1 and T 1 as the initial values, T 2 as the temperature where the pressure is unknown and P 2 as the unknown pressure, and converting °C to K, we have:

Rearranging and solving gives: P 2 = 360 kPa × 323 K 297 K = 390 kPa P 2 = 360 kPa × 323 K 297 K = 390 kPa

Check Your Learning

Volume and temperature: charles’s law.

If we fill a balloon with air and seal it, the balloon contains a specific amount of air at atmospheric pressure, let’s say 1 atm. If we put the balloon in a refrigerator, the gas inside gets cold and the balloon shrinks (although both the amount of gas and its pressure remain constant). If we make the balloon very cold, it will shrink a great deal, and it expands again when it warms up.

Link to Learning

This video shows how cooling and heating a gas causes its volume to decrease or increase, respectively.

These examples of the effect of temperature on the volume of a given amount of a confined gas at constant pressure are true in general: The volume increases as the temperature increases, and decreases as the temperature decreases. Volume-temperature data for a 1-mole sample of methane gas at 1 atm are listed and graphed in Figure 9.12 .

The relationship between the volume and temperature of a given amount of gas at constant pressure is known as Charles’s law in recognition of the French scientist and balloon flight pioneer Jacques Alexandre César Charles. Charles’s law states that the volume of a given amount of gas is directly proportional to its temperature on the kelvin scale when the pressure is held constant .

Mathematically, this can be written as:

with k being a proportionality constant that depends on the amount and pressure of the gas.

For a confined, constant pressure gas sample, V T V T is constant (i.e., the ratio = k ), and as seen with the P - T relationship, this leads to another form of Charles’s law: V 1 T 1 = V 2 T 2 . V 1 T 1 = V 2 T 2 .

Example 9.6

Predicting change in volume with temperature.

Rearranging and solving gives: V 2 = 0.300 L × 303 K 283 K = 0.321 L V 2 = 0.300 L × 303 K 283 K = 0.321 L

This answer supports our expectation from Charles’s law, namely, that raising the gas temperature (from 283 K to 303 K) at a constant pressure will yield an increase in its volume (from 0.300 L to 0.321 L).

Example 9.7

Measuring temperature with a volume change.

Rearrangement gives T 2 = 131.7 cm 3 × 273.15 K 150.0 cm 3 = 239.8 K T 2 = 131.7 cm 3 × 273.15 K 150.0 cm 3 = 239.8 K

Subtracting 273.15 from 239.8 K, we find that the temperature of the boiling ammonia on the Celsius scale is –33.4 °C.

Volume and Pressure: Boyle’s Law

If we partially fill an airtight syringe with air, the syringe contains a specific amount of air at constant temperature, say 25 °C. If we slowly push in the plunger while keeping temperature constant, the gas in the syringe is compressed into a smaller volume and its pressure increases; if we pull out the plunger, the volume increases and the pressure decreases. This example of the effect of volume on the pressure of a given amount of a confined gas is true in general. Decreasing the volume of a contained gas will increase its pressure, and increasing its volume will decrease its pressure. In fact, if the volume increases by a certain factor, the pressure decreases by the same factor, and vice versa. Volume-pressure data for an air sample at room temperature are graphed in Figure 9.13 .

Unlike the P - T and V - T relationships, pressure and volume are not directly proportional to each other. Instead, P and V exhibit inverse proportionality: Increasing the pressure results in a decrease of the volume of the gas. Mathematically this can be written:

with k being a constant. Graphically, this relationship is shown by the straight line that results when plotting the inverse of the pressure ( 1 P ) ( 1 P ) versus the volume ( V ), or the inverse of volume ( 1 V ) ( 1 V ) versus the pressure ( P ). Graphs with curved lines are difficult to read accurately at low or high values of the variables, and they are more difficult to use in fitting theoretical equations and parameters to experimental data. For those reasons, scientists often try to find a way to “linearize” their data. If we plot P versus V , we obtain a hyperbola (see Figure 9.14 ).

The relationship between the volume and pressure of a given amount of gas at constant temperature was first published by the English natural philosopher Robert Boyle over 300 years ago. It is summarized in the statement now known as Boyle’s law : The volume of a given amount of gas held at constant temperature is inversely proportional to the pressure under which it is measured.

Example 9.8

Volume of a gas sample.

(a) the P - V graph in Figure 9.13

(b) the 1 P 1 P vs. V graph in Figure 9.13

(c) the Boyle’s law equation

Comment on the likely accuracy of each method.

(b) Estimating from the 1 P 1 P versus V graph give a value of about 26 psi.

(c) From Boyle’s law, we know that the product of pressure and volume ( PV ) for a given sample of gas at a constant temperature is always equal to the same value. Therefore we have P 1 V 1 = k and P 2 V 2 = k which means that P 1 V 1 = P 2 V 2 .

Using P 1 and V 1 as the known values 13.0 psi and 15.0 mL, P 2 as the pressure at which the volume is unknown, and V 2 as the unknown volume, we have:

It was more difficult to estimate well from the P - V graph, so (a) is likely more inaccurate than (b) or (c). The calculation will be as accurate as the equation and measurements allow.

(a) about 17–18 mL; (b) ~18 mL; (c) 17.7 mL; it was more difficult to estimate well from the P - V graph, so (a) is likely more inaccurate than (b); the calculation will be as accurate as the equation and measurements allow

Chemistry in Everyday Life

Breathing and boyle’s law.

What do you do about 20 times per minute for your whole life, without break, and often without even being aware of it? The answer, of course, is respiration, or breathing. How does it work? It turns out that the gas laws apply here. Your lungs take in gas that your body needs (oxygen) and get rid of waste gas (carbon dioxide). Lungs are made of spongy, stretchy tissue that expands and contracts while you breathe. When you inhale, your diaphragm and intercostal muscles (the muscles between your ribs) contract, expanding your chest cavity and making your lung volume larger. The increase in volume leads to a decrease in pressure (Boyle’s law). This causes air to flow into the lungs (from high pressure to low pressure). When you exhale, the process reverses: Your diaphragm and rib muscles relax, your chest cavity contracts, and your lung volume decreases, causing the pressure to increase (Boyle’s law again), and air flows out of the lungs (from high pressure to low pressure). You then breathe in and out again, and again, repeating this Boyle’s law cycle for the rest of your life ( Figure 9.15 ).

Moles of Gas and Volume: Avogadro’s Law

The Italian scientist Amedeo Avogadro advanced a hypothesis in 1811 to account for the behavior of gases, stating that equal volumes of all gases, measured under the same conditions of temperature and pressure, contain the same number of molecules. Over time, this relationship was supported by many experimental observations as expressed by Avogadro’s law : For a confined gas, the volume (V) and number of moles (n) are directly proportional if the pressure and temperature both remain constant .

In equation form, this is written as:

Mathematical relationships can also be determined for the other variable pairs, such as P versus n , and n versus T .

Visit this interactive PhET simulation to investigate the relationships between pressure, volume, temperature, and amount of gas. Use the simulation to examine the effect of changing one parameter on another while holding the other parameters constant (as described in the preceding sections on the various gas laws).

The Ideal Gas Law

To this point, four separate laws have been discussed that relate pressure, volume, temperature, and the number of moles of the gas:

• Boyle’s law: PV = constant at constant T and n
• Amontons’s law: P T P T = constant at constant V and n
• Charles’s law: V T V T = constant at constant P and n
• Avogadro’s law: V n V n = constant at constant P and T

Combining these four laws yields the ideal gas law , a relation between the pressure, volume, temperature, and number of moles of a gas:

where P is the pressure of a gas, V is its volume, n is the number of moles of the gas, T is its temperature on the kelvin scale, and R is a constant called the ideal gas constant or the universal gas constant. The units used to express pressure, volume, and temperature will determine the proper form of the gas constant as required by dimensional analysis, the most commonly encountered values being 0.08206 L atm mol –1 K –1 and 8.314 kPa L mol –1 K –1 .

Gases whose properties of P , V , and T are accurately described by the ideal gas law (or the other gas laws) are said to exhibit ideal behavior or to approximate the traits of an ideal gas . An ideal gas is a hypothetical construct that may be used along with kinetic molecular theory to effectively explain the gas laws as will be described in a later module of this chapter. Although all the calculations presented in this module assume ideal behavior, this assumption is only reasonable for gases under conditions of relatively low pressure and high temperature. In the final module of this chapter, a modified gas law will be introduced that accounts for the non-ideal behavior observed for many gases at relatively high pressures and low temperatures.

The ideal gas equation contains five terms, the gas constant R and the variable properties P , V , n , and T . Specifying any four of these terms will permit use of the ideal gas law to calculate the fifth term as demonstrated in the following example exercises.

Example 9.9

Using the ideal gas law.

If we choose to use R = 0.08206 L atm mol –1 K –1 , then the amount must be in moles, temperature must be in kelvin, and pressure must be in atm.

Converting into the “right” units:

It would require 1020 L (269 gal) of gaseous methane at about 1 atm of pressure to replace 1 gal of gasoline. It requires a large container to hold enough methane at 1 atm to replace several gallons of gasoline.

If the number of moles of an ideal gas are kept constant under two different sets of conditions, a useful mathematical relationship called the combined gas law is obtained: P 1 V 1 T 1 = P 2 V 2 T 2 P 1 V 1 T 1 = P 2 V 2 T 2 using units of atm, L, and K. Both sets of conditions are equal to the product of n × × R (where n = the number of moles of the gas and R is the ideal gas law constant).

Example 9.10

Using the combined gas law.

Solving for V 2 :

(Note: Be advised that this particular example is one in which the assumption of ideal gas behavior is not very reasonable, since it involves gases at relatively high pressures and low temperatures. Despite this limitation, the calculated volume can be viewed as a good “ballpark” estimate.)

The Interdependence between Ocean Depth and Pressure in Scuba Diving

Whether scuba diving at the Great Barrier Reef in Australia (shown in Figure 9.17 ) or in the Caribbean, divers must understand how pressure affects a number of issues related to their comfort and safety.

Pressure increases with ocean depth, and the pressure changes most rapidly as divers reach the surface. The pressure a diver experiences is the sum of all pressures above the diver (from the water and the air). Most pressure measurements are given in units of atmospheres, expressed as “atmospheres absolute” or ATA in the diving community: Every 33 feet of salt water represents 1 ATA of pressure in addition to 1 ATA of pressure from the atmosphere at sea level. As a diver descends, the increase in pressure causes the body’s air pockets in the ears and lungs to compress; on the ascent, the decrease in pressure causes these air pockets to expand, potentially rupturing eardrums or bursting the lungs. Divers must therefore undergo equalization by adding air to body airspaces on the descent by breathing normally and adding air to the mask by breathing out of the nose or adding air to the ears and sinuses by equalization techniques; the corollary is also true on ascent, divers must release air from the body to maintain equalization. Buoyancy, or the ability to control whether a diver sinks or floats, is controlled by the buoyancy compensator (BCD). If a diver is ascending, the air in their BCD expands because of lower pressure according to Boyle’s law (decreasing the pressure of gases increases the volume). The expanding air increases the buoyancy of the diver, and they begin to ascend. The diver must vent air from the BCD or risk an uncontrolled ascent that could rupture the lungs. In descending, the increased pressure causes the air in the BCD to compress and the diver sinks much more quickly; the diver must add air to the BCD or risk an uncontrolled descent, facing much higher pressures near the ocean floor. The pressure also impacts how long a diver can stay underwater before ascending. The deeper a diver dives, the more compressed the air that is breathed because of increased pressure: If a diver dives 33 feet, the pressure is 2 ATA and the air would be compressed to one-half of its original volume. The diver uses up available air twice as fast as at the surface.

Standard Conditions of Temperature and Pressure

We have seen that the volume of a given quantity of gas and the number of molecules (moles) in a given volume of gas vary with changes in pressure and temperature. Chemists sometimes make comparisons against a standard temperature and pressure (STP) for reporting properties of gases: 273.15 K and 1 atm (101.325 kPa). 1 At STP, one mole of an ideal gas has a volume of about 22.4 L—this is referred to as the standard molar volume ( Figure 9.18 ).

• 1 The IUPAC definition of standard pressure was changed from 1 atm to 1 bar (100 kPa) in 1982, but the prior definition remains in use by many literature resources and will be used in this text.

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Gas Laws Simulation Mark as Favorite (71 Favorites)

SIMULATION in Gas Laws . Last updated October 05, 2022.

In this simulation, students will investigate three of the fundamental gas laws, including Boyle’s Law, Charles’ Law and Gay-Lussac’s Law. Students will have the opportunity to visually examine the effect of changing the associated variables of pressure, volume, or temperature in each situation. Also, students will analyze the gas samples at the particle level as well as manipulate quantitative data in each scenario. Finally students will interpret trends in the data by examining the graph associated with each of the gas laws.

This simulation was developed through generous funding provided by Dow Chemical Company, the Sole Founding Partner of AACT .

See accompanying lesson plan

Remember Me

Shop Experiment Boyle’s Law: Pressure-Volume Relationship in Gases Experiments​

Boyle’s law: pressure-volume relationship in gases.

Experiment #6 from Chemistry with Vernier

Video Overview

Introduction

The primary objective of this experiment is to determine the relationship between the pressure and volume of a confined gas. The gas we use will be air, and it will be confined in a syringe connected to a Gas Pressure Sensor. When the volume of the syringe is changed by moving the piston, a change occurs in the pressure exerted by the confined gas. This pressure change will be monitored using a Gas Pressure Sensor. It is assumed that temperature will be constant throughout the experiment. Pressure and volume data pairs will be collected during this experiment and then analyzed. From the data and graph, you should be able to determine what kind of mathematical relationship exists between the pressure and volume of the confined gas. Historically, this relationship was first established by Robert Boyle in 1662 and has since been known as Boyle’s law.

In this experiment, you will

• Use a Gas Pressure Sensor and a gas syringe to measure the pressure of an air sample at several different volumes.
• Determine the relationship between pressure and volume of the gas.
• Describe the relationship between gas pressure and volume in a mathematical equation.
• Use the results to predict the pressure at other volumes.

Sensors and Equipment

This experiment features the following sensors and equipment. Additional equipment may be required.

Correlations

Teaching to an educational standard? This experiment supports the standards below.

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Ask an expert.

Get answers to your questions about how to teach this experiment with our support team.

• Call toll-free: 888-837-6437
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Purchase the Lab Book

This experiment is #6 of Chemistry with Vernier . The experiment in the book includes student instructions as well as instructor information for set up, helpful hints, and sample graphs and data.

Science Classroom Teacher Resources

• Use this “ Animated Gas Lab ” to answer the questions on this  worksheet  about Boyle’s Law.
• And use the same “ Animated Gas Lab ” to complete the Charles’s Law  worksheet .
• Have students do these Boyle’s Law problems ( pdf ) .
• Do these Charles’s Law problems ( pdf ) .
• Try these Combined Gas Law problems ( pdf ) .
• These ( pdf )  are Ideal Gas Law problems and these ( pdf )  are both Combined Gas Laws and Ideal Gas Law Problems.
• This worksheet ( doc )  is a review of all the gas laws.
• Have students try this “Gas Laws Magic Square” ( doc ) .
• Do this Gas Laws crossword puzzle ( doc )  or try this “Gases” ( pdf )  crossword with answers.
• Or try this Gas Law wordsearch puzzle ( doc )  with answers ( doc ) .
• A question on a University of Washington midterm was, “Is Hell Exothermic?” This student’s response ( doc )  uses the gas laws to answer the question. Just thought I would throw that in for fun!
• Show this  Flash  animation with audio of “ The Gas Laws .” 
• Abigail Freiberger of the  Greater Atlanta Christian School  provided this “Physical Characteristics of Gases” ( doc )  activity that uses animations on the web to investigate the physical properties of gases.
• Paul Bizot provided this “NASA Animated Gas Lab” ( doc )  worksheet to go with NASA’s  Animated Gas Lab . It is targeted toward AP Chemistry students.
• “ The Chemistry Blimp ” is a WebQuest that explores the chemistry behind the Hindenburg disaster.
• Use NASA’s animated “ Gas Lab ” to do this simpler “NASA Animated Gas Lab” ( doc )  worksheet.
• These are “Simple, Inexpensive Classroom Experiments for Understanding Basic Gas Laws and Properties of Gases” ( pdf ) .
• Use this Cartesian Diver ( doc )  demo to illustrate Boyles’s Law.
• Try these “Chemistry Is a Gas” ( doc )  demos to illustrate Boyle’s and Charles’s Laws.
• Do this  Boyle’s Law Microscale  experiment or this  Charles’s Law Microscale  experiment.
• “ Gas Laws ” is a virtual lab that uses this “ Boyle’s Law ” animation, this  graph pad , and this “ Charles’s Law ” animation.
• Set up 11 lab stations with this “ Gas Laws Smorgasbord ” from  Arbor Scientific.
• Have students do  Discovery School’s  “Temperature and Pressure” ( pdf )  lab, designed for grades 6-8, that uses carbonated sodas. It includes a “Temperature and Pressure Data Sheet” ( pdf ) .
• Try Joyce Hooley-Bartlett’s “Exploration of Gasses” ( doc )  demos.
• In Beverly Frommel’s “Marshmallow Madness” ( doc ) , student’s use plastic syringes and marshmallows to test one of the basic gas laws.
• Try Rosemarie Smith’s “Alka Seltzer and the Ideal Gas Law” ( doc )  lab. She has included teacher notes ( doc )  and a key for the lab ( pdf ) .
• Good Boyles’s Law animation:  http://www.grc.nasa.gov/. . .  
• A Boyle’s Law animation that allows you to change gases and adjust the volume:  http://www.chem.iastate.edu/group/Greenbowe/. . .
• Animated Charles and Gay-Lussac’s Laws:  http://www.grc.nasa.gov/. . .
• Gas Law Calculators:  http://www.1728.org/indexche.htm
• A Charles’s Law animation that allows you to change the temperature:  http://www.chem.iastate.edu/group/Greenbowe/. . .
• A “Crush the Can” animation to show what’s happening inside the can molecularly:  http://www.chem.iastate.edu/group/Greenbowe/. . .
• A Gas Law tutorial with animation and audio:  http://legacyweb.chemistry.ohio-state.edu/betha/nealGasLaw/index.html  
• Animation of the way air pressure affects a baloon as it rises:  http://kids.earth.nasa.gov/archive/air_pressure/balloon.html  
• Good tutorial about gases:  http://antoine.frostburg.edu/chem/senese/101/gases/index.shtml  
• How the gas laws can make you a better diver:  http://www.aquaholic.com/gasses/laws.htm  

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The University of Chicago The Law School

Abrams environmental law clinic—significant achievements for 2023-24, protecting our great lakes, rivers, and shorelines.

The Abrams Clinic represents Friends of the Chicago River and the Sierra Club in their efforts to hold Trump Tower in downtown Chicago accountable for withdrawing water illegally from the Chicago River. To cool the building, Trump Tower draws water at high volumes, similar to industrial factories or power plants, but Trump Tower operated for more than a decade without ever conducting the legally required studies to determine the impact of those operations on aquatic life or without installing sufficient equipment to protect aquatic life consistent with federal regulations. After the Clinic sent a notice of intent to sue Trump Tower, the State of Illinois filed its own case in the summer of 2018, and the Clinic moved successfully to intervene in that case. In 2023-24, motions practice and discovery continued. Working with co-counsel at Northwestern University’s Pritzker Law School’s Environmental Advocacy Center, the Clinic moved to amend its complaint to include Trump Tower’s systematic underreporting each month of the volume of water that it intakes from and discharges to the Chicago River. The Clinic and co-counsel addressed Trump Tower’s motion to dismiss some of our clients’ claims, and we filed a motion for summary judgment on our claim that Trump Tower has committed a public nuisance. We also worked closely with our expert, Dr. Peter Henderson, on a supplemental disclosure and on defending an additional deposition of him. In summer 2024, the Clinic is defending its motion for summary judgment and challenging Trump Tower’s own motion for summary judgment. The Clinic is also preparing for trial, which could take place as early as fall 2024.

Since 2016, the Abrams Clinic has worked with the Chicago chapter of the Surfrider Foundation to protect water quality along the Lake Michigan shoreline in northwest Indiana, where its members surf. In April 2017, the U. S. Steel plant in Portage, Indiana, spilled approximately 300 pounds of hexavalent chromium into Lake Michigan. In January 2018, the Abrams Clinic filed a suit on behalf of Surfrider against U. S. Steel, alleging multiple violations of U. S. Steel’s discharge permits; the City of Chicago filed suit shortly after. When the US government and the State of Indiana filed their own, separate case, the Clinic filed extensive comments on the proposed consent decree. In August 2021, the court entered a revised consent decree which included provisions advocated for by Surfrider and the City of Chicago, namely a water sampling project that alerts beachgoers as to Lake Michigan’s water quality conditions, better notifications in case of future spills, and improvements to U. S. Steel’s operations and maintenance plans. In the 2023-24 academic year, the Clinic successfully litigated its claims for attorneys’ fees as a substantially prevailing party. Significantly, the court’s order adopted the “Fitzpatrick matrix,” used by the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia to determine appropriate hourly rates for civil litigants, endorsed Chicago legal market rates as the appropriate rates for complex environmental litigation in Northwest Indiana, and allowed for partially reconstructed time records. The Clinic’s work, which has received significant media attention, helped to spawn other litigation to address pollution by other industrial facilities in Northwest Indiana and other enforcement against U. S. Steel by the State of Indiana.

In Winter Quarter 2024, Clinic students worked closely with Dr. John Ikerd, an agricultural economist and emeritus professor at the University of Missouri, to file an amicus brief in Food & Water Watch v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency . In that case pending before the Ninth Circuit, Food & Water Watch argues that US EPA is illegally allowing Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations, more commonly known as factory farms, to pollute waterways significantly more than is allowable under the Clean Water Act. In the brief for Dr. Ikerd and co-amici Austin Frerick, Crawford Stewardship Project, Family Farm Defenders, Farm Aid, Missouri Rural Crisis Center, National Family Farm Coalition, National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, and Western Organization of Resource Councils, we argued that EPA’s refusal to regulate CAFOs effectively is an unwarranted application of “agricultural exceptionalism” to industrial agriculture and that EPA effectively distorts the animal production market by allowing CAFOs to externalize their pollution costs and diminishing the ability of family farms to compete. Attorneys for the litigants will argue the case in September 2024.

Energy and Climate

Energy justice.

The Abrams Clinic supported grassroots organizations advocating for energy justice in low-income communities and Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) communities in Michigan. With the Clinic’s representation, these organizations intervened in cases before the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC), which regulates investor-owned utilities. Students conducted discovery, drafted written testimony, cross-examined utility executives, participated in settlement discussions, and filed briefs for these projects. The Clinic’s representation has elevated the concerns of these community organizations and forced both the utilities and regulators to consider issues of equity to an unprecedented degree. This year, on behalf of Soulardarity (Highland Park, MI), We Want Green, Too (Detroit, MI), and Urban Core Collective (Grand Rapids, MI), Clinic students engaged in eight contested cases before the MPSC against DTE Electric, DTE Gas, and Consumers Energy, as well as provided support for our clients’ advocacy in other non-contested MPSC proceedings.

The Clinic started this past fall with wins in three cases. First, the Clinic’s clients settled with DTE Electric in its Integrated Resource Plan case. The settlement included an agreement to close the second dirtiest coal power plant in Michigan three years early, $30 million from DTE’s shareholders to assist low-income customers in paying their bills, and $8 million from DTE’s shareholders toward a community fund that assists low-income customers with installing energy efficiency improvements, renewable energy, and battery technology. Second, in DTE Electric’s 2023 request for a rate hike (a “rate case”), the Commission required DTE Electric to develop a more robust environmental justice analysis and rejected the Company’s second attempt to waive consumer protections through a proposed electric utility prepayment program with a questionable history of success during its pilot run. The final Commission order and the administrative law judge’s proposal for final decision cited the Clinic’s testimony and briefs. Third, in Consumers Electric’s 2023 rate case, the Commission rejected the Company’s request for a higher ratepayer-funded return on its investments and required the Company to create a process that will enable intervenors to obtain accurate GIS data. The Clinic intends to use this data to map the disparate impact of infrastructure investment in low-income and BIPOC communities.

In the winter, the Clinic filed public comments regarding DTE Electric and Consumers Energy’s “distribution grid plans” (DGP) as well as supported interventions in two additional cases: Consumers Energy’s voluntary green pricing (VGP) case and the Clinic’s first case against the gas utility DTE Gas. Beginning with the DGP comments, the Clinic first addressed Consumers’s 2023 Electric Distribution Infrastructure Investment Plan (EDIIP), which detailed current distribution system health and the utility’s approximately $7 billion capital project planning ($2 billion of which went unaccounted for in the EDIIP) over 2023–2028. The Clinic then commented on DTE Electric’s 2023 DGP, which outlined the utility’s opaque project prioritization and planned more than $9 billion in capital investments and associated maintenance over 2024–2028. The comments targeted four areas of deficiencies in both the EDIIP and DGP: (1) inadequate consideration of distributed energy resources (DERs) as providing grid reliability, resiliency, and energy transition benefits; (2) flawed environmental justice analysis, particularly with respect to the collection of performance metrics and the narrow implementation of the Michigan Environmental Justice Screen Tool; (3) inequitable investment patterns across census tracts, with emphasis on DTE Electric’s skewed prioritization for retaining its old circuits rather than upgrading those circuits; and (4) failing to engage with community feedback.

For the VGP case against Consumers, the Clinic supported the filing of both an initial brief and reply brief requesting that the Commission reject the Company’s flawed proposal for a “community solar” program. In a prior case, the Clinic advocated for the development of a community solar program that would provide low-income, BIPOC communities with access to clean energy. As a result of our efforts, the Commission approved a settlement agreement requiring the Company “to evaluate and provide a strawman recommendation on community solar in its Voluntary Green Pricing Program.” However, the Company’s subsequent proposal in its VGP case violated the Commission’s order because it (1) was not consistent with the applicable law, MCL 460.1061; (2) was not a true community solar program; (3) lacked essential details; (4) failed to compensate subscribers sufficiently; (5) included overpriced and inflexible subscriptions; (6) excessively limited capacity; and (7) failed to provide a clear pathway for certain participants to transition into other VGP programs. For these reasons, the Clinic argued that the Commission should reject the Company’s proposal.

In DTE Gas’s current rate case, the Clinic worked with four witnesses to develop testimony that would rebut DTE Gas’s request for a rate hike on its customers. The testimony advocated for a pathway to a just energy transition that avoids dumping the costs of stranded gas assets on the low-income and BIPOC communities that are likely to be the last to electrify. Instead, the testimony proposed that the gas and electric utilities undertake integrated planning that would prioritize electric infrastructure over gas infrastructure investment to ensure that DTE Gas does not over-invest in gas infrastructure that will be rendered obsolete in the coming decades. The Clinic also worked with one expert witness to develop an analysis of DTE Gas’s unaffordable bills and inequitable shutoff, deposit, and collections practices. Lastly, the Clinic offered testimony on behalf of and from community members who would be directly impacted by the Company’s rate hike and lack of affordable and quality service. Clinic students have spent the summer drafting an approximately one-hundred-page brief making these arguments formally. We expect the Commission’s decision this fall.

Finally, both DTE Electric and Consumers Energy have filed additional requests for rate increases after the conclusion of their respective rate cases filed in 2023. On behalf of our Clients, the Clinic has intervened in these cases, and clinic students have already reviewed thousands of pages of documents and started to develop arguments and strategies to protect low-income and BIPOC communities from the utility’s ceaseless efforts to increase the cost of energy.

Corporate Climate Greenwashing

The Abrams Environmental Law Clinic worked with a leading international nonprofit dedicated to using the law to protect the environment to research corporate climate greenwashing, focusing on consumer protection, green financing, and securities liability. Clinic students spent the year examining an innovative state law, drafted a fifty-page guide to the statute and relevant cases, and examined how the law would apply to a variety of potential cases. Students then presented their findings in a case study and oral presentation to members of ClientEarth, including the organization’s North American head and members of its European team. The project helped identify the strengths and weaknesses of potential new strategies for increasing corporate accountability in the fight against climate change.

Land Contamination, Lead, and Hazardous Waste

The Abrams Clinic continues to represent East Chicago, Indiana, residents who live or lived on or adjacent to the USS Lead Superfund site. This year, the Clinic worked closely with the East Chicago/Calumet Coalition Community Advisory Group (CAG) to advance the CAG’s advocacy beyond the Superfund site and the adjacent Dupont RCRA site. Through multiple forms of advocacy, the clinics challenged the poor performance and permit modification and renewal attempts of Tradebe Treatment and Recycling, LLC (Tradebe), a hazardous waste storage and recycling facility in the community. Clinic students sent letters to US EPA and Indiana Department of Environmental Management officials about how IDEM has failed to assess meaningful penalties against Tradebe for repeated violations of the law and how IDEM has allowed Tradebe to continue to threaten public and worker health and safety by not improving its operations. Students also drafted substantial comments for the CAG on the US EPA’s Lead and Copper Rule improvements, the Suppliers’ Park proposed cleanup, and Sims Metal’s proposed air permit revisions. The Clinic has also continued working with the CAG, environmental experts, and regulators since US EPA awarded $200,000 to the CAG for community air monitoring. The Clinic and its clients also joined comments drafted by other environmental organizations about poor operations and loose regulatory oversight of several industrial facilities in the area.

Endangered Species

The Abrams Clinic represented the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) and the Hoosier Environmental Council (HEC) in litigation regarding the US Fish and Wildlife Service’s (Service) failure to list the Kirtland’s snake as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act. The Kirtland’s snake is a small, secretive, non-venomous snake historically located across the Midwest and the Ohio River Valley. Development and climate change have undermined large portions of the snake’s habitat, and populations are declining. Accordingly, the Clinic sued the Service in the US District Court for the District of Columbia last summer over the Service’s denial of CBD’s request to have the Kirtland’s snake protected. This spring, the Clinic was able to reach a settlement with the Service that requires the Service to reconsider its listing decision for the Kirtland’s snake and to pay attorney fees.

The Clinic also represented CBD in preparation for litigation regarding the Service’s failure to list another species as threatened or endangered. Threats from land development and climate change have devastated this species as well, and the species has already been extirpated from two of the sixteen US states in its range. As such, the Clinic worked this winter and spring to prepare a notice of intent (NOI) to sue the Service. The Team poured over hundreds of FOIA documents and dug into the Service’s supporting documentation to create strong arguments against the Service in the imminent litigation. The Clinic will send the NOI and file a complaint in the next few months.

Students and Faculty

Twenty-four law school students from the classes of 2024 and 2025 participated in the Clinic, performing complex legal research, reviewing documents obtained through discovery, drafting legal research memos and briefs, conferring with clients, conducting cross-examination, participating in settlement conferences, and arguing motions. Students secured nine clerkships, five were heading to private practice after graduation, and two are pursuing public interest work. Sam Heppell joined the Clinic from civil rights private practice, bringing the Clinic to its full complement of three attorneys.

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Maikop is the capital of the small and pastoral Republic of Adygea which is entirely located within the Krasnodar Territory and therefore easy to visit from Krasnodar . It is a very pleasant city with an impressive central mosque. There are also some beautiful natural sites on the outskirts of the city.

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Maykop – the view from above

No comments · Posted by Sergei Rzhevsky in Cities , Travel

Maykop (“the valley of apple trees” from the Adyghe language) is a city with a population of about 139 thousand people located in the south of European Russia, the capital of the Republic of Adygea .

The main urban development of Maykop was carried out in Soviet times and it was done quite systematically. The streets of the city for the most part are strictly perpendicular to each other, its entire center consists of identical city blocks. Photos by: Slava Stepanov .

The main mosque of Maykop. Built in 1999-2000, it is also the seat of the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of the Republic of Adygea and Krasnodar Krai .

Monument “Unity and Harmony” – a memorial complex made in the form of an Adyghe hearth, which since ancient times has been considered the material and spiritual basis of the home and family. Local people call it just “hearth”. It is dedicated to the memory of the victims of the Caucasian War (1817-1864) and is a symbol of unity of all residents of the republic.

Monument “Forever with Russia” made in the form of two warriors who personify Adygea and Russia. It was opened in honor of the 400th anniversary of the union of Adygea and Russia.

State Philharmonic of the Republic of Adygea.

Administration of the city of Maykop.

Lenin Square.

Administration of the Head of the Republic of Adygea and the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Adygea.

Orthodox church in Maykop.

Yakub Koblev Sports Palace. Opened on October 1, 2015, it bears the name of the legendary coach and rector of the Institute of Physical Culture and Judo Yakub Koblev.

Welcome to Maykop!

Tags:  Adygeya Republic · Maykop city

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