The purpose of this activity is to demonstrate Boyle’s Law, Charles Law and Avogadro’s Principle through a web simulation where you change the conditions of temperature, pressure or moles and observe the change in volume.

You will graph the results of this virtual experiment using an excel spreadsheet and answer the concluding questions.

PROCEDURE:

  1. Go to the following website:
  2. Start the experiment (lower left corner of the opening web page) :
  3. PART 1:Charles Law
  • Open an excel spreadsheet and label column A “Temperature” and column B “Volume”. Minimize the window.
  • Click the radio button on the simulation page to measure Volume
  • Enter 1 atm pressure in the simulation
  • Enter 50 K temperature
  • Record temperature on column A of spreadsheet
  • Systematically change the temperature to any values you desire, submit query, and record the volume on column B of the spreadsheet. Note that if you choose too high of a temperature, the lid of the container will pop off.
  • You will need 10-12 readings.
  • Highlight column “A” and “B” and click on the graph icon for the Chart Wizard located on icon tool bar (colorful bars).
  • Choose scatter XY graph type and click next.
  • Properly label axes with the variable measured and its units. Name the graph and position onto the spread sheet next to your data table. Format the graph size so that the page will print on one page.
  1. Part 2: Boyle’s Law
  • Click on the Sheet 2 tab on the bottom of the spreadsheetand label column A “Pressure” and column B “Volume”.
  • Enter 100 K temperature in the simulation
  • Enter 9.0 atm. pressure
  • Record the pressure and volume on your spreadsheet
  • Systematically change the pressure, to any values you desire and submit query. Record the pressure and volume data of each trial. Note that if the pressure value is too low, the lid will pop off the container.
  • Take 10-12 readings.
  • Repeat steps 4-6 to create graph and format onto your spread sheet. Note that we will now use column “C”, so do not position the chart over that column.
  • Multiply pressure and volume for readings 1-5. (Use the excel formula: = A2*B2 into C 2, then use the “Edit – Fill Down” tool). You only have to enter the cell formula once.
  • Examine the results in column “C”. What do you conclude about the relationship of pressure multiplied by volume?
  1. Part 3: Avogadro’s Principle
  • Open Sheet 3 on your spreadsheet and label column A “Moles” and column B “Volume”.
  • Enter 100 K for the temperature and 1 atm. For the pressure.
  • Start with 1.0 moles, submit query and record the volume
  • Select 10-12 mole settings and record the representative volume as before. Too many moles of gas and the lid will pop off.
  • Repeat steps 4-6 to create graph and format onto your spread sheet.
  1. Concluding Analysis
  1. For each of the 3 sets of trials you conducted, identify the:
  • Independent variable
  • Dependent variable
  • Fixed components.
  1. For each of the 3 trials state the Gas Law principle at work (i.e. are the respective variables inversely or directly proportional).