Table 1: Temperature and volume data

Trial Temperature (Celsius) Volume (mL)
Starting Volume Room Temperature =
Hot Water Trial 1 106 5.2ml
Hot Water Trial 2 107 5.4ml
Cold Water Trial 1 lo 4.3ml
Cold Water Trial 2 lo 4.3ml

PLOT AREA
(Insert a graph that you either drew here in Word or built from Excel using the data collected in this section)

Note: On the graph, you are graphing volume on the y axis, temperature on the x axis. Use a line graph - not a bar graph. You should have a linear graph, and if all goes right, you can extrapolate back so that the x axis is crossed at 0 K or -273 C.

Questions:

1. What happened to the volume of gas when the syringe was submerged in each water bath? Using the concepts discussed above, describe why this occurs, keeping in mind the definition of temperature.

The volume of gas increased when submerged in hot water. As the water temperature increased the gas within the syringe began to rise causing an increase in pressure. When the syringe was submerged in cold water the gases started to fall in pressure.

(Tip: Compare the volume of gas in hot water versus cold water and record your observation. Explain what you are seeing and why this is so.)

2. How do you know that pressure is held constant in your experiment?

3. Using a ruler, draw a straight line of best fit through your data points, extrapolating the line until it intersects the (negative) x-axis. Why can you assume a straight line, i.e., a linear relationship?

4. At what temperature does your line intersect the x-axis? What volume corresponds to this temperature?

To answer question 1, we observe that the volume of gas increased when the syringe was submerged in hot water and decreased when submerged in cold water. This is because gases expand when heated and contract when cooled. Temperature is a measure of the average kinetic energy of the gas particles. When the gas is heated, the particles move faster and collide with the walls of the syringe more frequently, causing an increase in pressure and volume. Conversely, when the gas is cooled, the particles move slower, collide less frequently, leading to a decrease in pressure and volume.

To answer question 2, we can assume that pressure is held constant in the experiment because the syringe is completely sealed, preventing any gas from escaping or entering. This means that the number of gas particles remains constant, and therefore the pressure remains constant.

To answer question 3, we can draw a straight line of best fit through the data points because the relationship between temperature and volume is expected to be linear due to the ideal gas law. The ideal gas law states that the volume of a gas is directly proportional to its temperature, assuming constant pressure and amount of gas. The straight line represents the linear relationship between temperature and volume.

To answer question 4, we need to extrapolate the line until it intersects the (negative) x-axis. The x-axis represents the temperature axis, and the y-axis represents the volume axis. When the line intersects the x-axis, it indicates a temperature of 0 K (-273°C). At this temperature, the volume of the gas would theoretically be zero, as the gas particles would have minimal kinetic energy and would occupy no space. However, in reality, reaching absolute zero is not achievable, so this intersection point is a theoretical extrapolation. The corresponding volume at this temperature can be estimated by reading the y-axis value at the intersection point.