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ERIC Number: EJ926930
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2011-May
Pages: 2
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0031-921X
EISSN: N/A
Pressure Oscillations in Adiabatic Compression
Stout, Roland
Physics Teacher, v49 n5 p280-281 May 2011
After finding Moloney and McGarvey's modified adiabatic compression apparatus, I decided to insert this experiment into my physical chemistry laboratory at the last minute, replacing a problematic experiment. With insufficient time to build the apparatus, we placed a bottle between two thick textbooks and compressed it with a third textbook forced down from above. We discovered that approximately one in three trials exhibited a damped pressure oscillation after compression, as shown in Fig. 1 below, making it difficult to determine the true peak pressure. We discarded these trials and used only those without oscillation. I subsequently have had time to build a version of Moloney and McGarvin's apparatus. Using this apparatus, my students and I have recently performed numerous adiabatic compression trials with three different gases, with very few instances of oscillation.
American Association of Physics Teachers. One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740. Tel: 301-209-3300; Fax: 301-209-0845; e-mail: pubs@aapt.org; Web site: http://scitation.aip.org/tpt
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: N/A
Audience: Teachers
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A