Laboratory no.

10
Ideal Gas Law and Absolute Zero Apparatus
Section 3

Date: 13 April, 2021

Adelina Zeinolla
Aliya Baizhanova
Zhannur Nurlan

Objectives:
● Observe the connections between the macroscopic gas properties like volume, pressure
and temperature using gas laws;
● To apply isochronic process for absolute zero temperature determination;
● To show the constant ratio for final and initial state for the gas state variables in the
adiabatic processes.

I. Experimental description
Part 1.
The experiment was aimed to test whether the gases, at certain conditions, can have similar
behaviour with ideal gases. The Absolute Zero Apparatus (AZA) was used to exploit this
behaviour. AZA was first put into the hot water, the values of P and T were obtained from the
graph. Then the ice was added to the vessel containing AZA, measuring the P and T values at
colder condition. The temperatures that were tested during experiments are 80˚C, 60˚C, 40˚C,
20˚C and 0˚C.

Part 2.
The parasitic volume in tubing was first determined by connecting the pressure connector to the
pressure-temperature sensor. Then the plunger was pushed so that it occupied the minimum
possible volume. The temperature, pressure and volume of that position were recorded. Then the
plunger was released, allowing the volume to expand freely. Again, 3 measured variables were
recorded. The experiment was repeated several times with different initial volume values.
Figure 2. Ideal Gas Law Apparatus (Lab Manual, p.3)

II. Experimental data

Part 1
Table 1. Experimental data for measured temperature and pressure
№ Temperature, °C Absolute pressure, kPa

1 80.0072 115.7667

2 60.2613 107.9412

3 40.2041 101.5246

4 20.5294 94.3976

5 0.4114 87.3535

Part 2
Table 2. Experimental data for measured change in pressure, temperature and volume
№ Pinitial , kPa Pfinal , kPa V initial , ml V final , ml T iniail, °C T final, °C

1 96 101 60 56 28.43 28.52

2 96 101 55 52 28.63 28.74

3 100 102 50 49 28.62 28.67

4 96.0 101 45 43 29.07 29.11

5 96.0 100 40 38 28.79 28.86

6 96.0 100 35 33 29.00 28.73

III. Data analysis

Part 1
Formula derivations
Ideal gas law, which is in the following form will be used to derive necessary equations:
PV =nRT (1)
where,
P - pressure, Pa
V - volume, m3
n - number of moles, mol
R - ideal gas constant, 8.314 J K −1 mol −1
T - temperature, °C
For an isochoric process, which assumes a constant-volume process, the following expression
can be used to show linear dependence between pressure and temperature:
P=zT (2)
Therefore, the linear dependence of correlated (P, T) can be expressed as:
 P= jT +O 1 (3)
T =fP+O2 (4)
where,
z , j , f - particular constants
O1 ,O2- non-zero offsets

Visual representation

Figure 1. Graph of Temperature vs Pressure

Figure 2. Graph of Pressure vs Temperature

Results
Table 3. Results for absolute zero temperature
Temperature vs Pressure Pressure vs Temperature
 Absolute zero temperature, °C -246.132 -246.365

Part 2
Formula derivations
Using ideal gas law following expression illustrating relationship between pressure,
volume and temperature can be established:
P final V final T final
= (5)
Pinitial V
initial
T initial
Firstly, to establish this relationship, parasitic volume should be calculated that was not included
in the syringe calibration. Ideal Gas law for constant temperature:
P1 V 1=P2 V 2 (6)
can be rewritten as
P1 V 2
= (7)
P2 V 1
If parasitic volume is taken into account, equation (7) can be expressed as follows:
P 1 = V 2+ V 0 (8)
P 2 V 1+ V 0

P 2 V 2−P1 V 1 (9)
V 0=¿
P1−P2
where,
V 0 - parasitic volume, L

Error propagation.
The error for the parasitic volume was found in the following way:

∆ V 0= √ ❑

Results
Table 3. Calculated values for parasitic volume and data for visual representation
№ V 0 , ml P final (V final −V 0) T final
P initial (V initial−V 0) T initial

1 20.8 0.94473 1.003166

2 5.6 0.98819 1.003842

3 1.0 0.99918 1.001747

4 4.6 1.00000 1.001376

5 10.0 0.97222 1.002431

6 15.0 0.93750 0.990689

Visual representation

P final (V final −V 0) T final

Figure 3. Graph of vs
P initial (V initial−V 0) T initial

IV. Discussion
In this experiment relationships between macroscopic gas properties such as volume,
temperature and pressure were established and the absolute zero temperature were calculated
experimentally. All necessary equations were derived from Ideal Gas law expression by
cancelling out constant variables.
In the first part of the experiment, relationship between the pressure and temperature was
studied using the constant volume conditions. Experimental values for both temperature and
pressure were determined and two graphs of Temperature vs Pressure and Pressure vs
Temperature were plotted to determine the absolute zero temperature. As it can be seen from the
Figure 1 and Figure 2, linear relationship between temperature and pressure was obtained,
which is consistent with Gay-Lussac’s law, which predicts that as gas's temperature increases,
then so does its pressure. From the Temperature vs Pressure plot, absolute zero temperature
was equal to the intersection of the line with the y-axis and it was equal to the -246.132 ℃.
For the Pressure vs Temperature plot, absolute zero temperature was also determined from
the intersection with x-axis and is equal to -246.365 ℃. Experimentally obtained values for
absolute temperature slightly deviate from the theoretical −273.15 °C value.
In the second part of the experiment ratio between initial and final pressure, temperature
and volumes was determined, which is generally constant. It was assumed that due to the fact
that the experiment was done fast, there was no or very little exchange between system and
environment. Since Ideal Gas Apparatus is not completely isolated, parasitic volume was
calculated. Parasitic volume is not included in the syringe calibration, therefore, it was necessary
P final (V final −V 0) T final
to subtract in from final and initial volumes. Figure 3 shows graph of vs
P initial (V initial−V 0) T initial
and theoretically, all values should be near y=1. As it can be seen from the plot, all points are
scattered near the y=1.
The possible sources of error that might have affected the to be about 27 degree higher
than the expected value can include both systematic and random errors. Since this experiment
mainly involves the measurements to be taken from apparatus, the malfunctions that are hard to
see can be the reason for that deviation. As for part 2, the points that do not fit the best fit line
can be explained by the errors in obtaining the minimum volume or values of temperature and
pressure. Yet, the fact that the points are scattered near the y=1 is a good evidence for the
accuracy of the data. Overall, the lab was carried out without significant errors, as the results are
consistent with the literature.

V. Conclusion
In conclusion, the macroscopic properties of gas were examined through the ideal gas
laws. By knowing the relationship between these properties, the experimental value of absolute
zero temperature was calculated through isochoric processes. Throughout the experiment, it was
observed that the ratio for the initial and final states for the gas state variables in the adiabatic
processes is constant. The conclusions derived from the above mentioned observations proves
that all objectives of this experiment were achieved. The data obtained is said to be both accurate
and precise, meaning that the lab was successful.