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Water bottle in a hot car. In the American Southwest, the temperature in a closed car parked in sunlight during the summer can be high enough to burn flesh. Suppose a bottle of water at a refrigerator temperature of 9.72


C is opened, then closed, and then left in a closed car with an internal temperature of 62.5

C. Neglecting the thermal expansion of the water and the bottle, find the pressure in the air pocket trapped in the bottle. (The pressure can be enough to push the bottle cap past the threads that are intended to keep the bottle closed.) Number Units

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User JohnDow
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2 Answers

5 votes

To find the pressure in the air pocket trapped in the bottle, we can use the ideal gas law, which relates pressure, volume, temperature, and the number of moles of gas:

PV = nRT

where P is the pressure, V is the volume of the air pocket, n is the number of moles of air, R is the ideal gas constant, and T is the temperature of the air pocket in Kelvin.

We can assume that the volume of the air pocket remains constant, so we can rewrite the ideal gas law as:

P = nRT/V

where P, R, and V are constants, and n and T are the variables.

To find the pressure in the air pocket, we need to find the number of moles of air and the temperature of the air pocket.

Assuming that the bottle is initially at a refrigerator temperature of 9.72 °C, or 283.87 K, and is then left in a closed car with an internal temperature of 62.5 °C, or 335.65 K, the change in temperature of the air pocket is:

ΔT = 335.65 K - 283.87 K = 51.78 K

Since the thermal expansion of the water and the bottle is neglected, we can assume that the volume of the air pocket remains constant. Therefore, the number of moles of air also remains constant.

The ideal gas constant R is approximately 8.31 J/(mol K).

Now we can plug in the values into the formula:

P = nRT/V = (nR/V)ΔT

To find n/V, we can use the density of air, which is approximately 1.2 kg/m^3 at room temperature and pressure. The volume of the air pocket in the bottle can be estimated to be about 10% of the volume of the bottle, or about 0.001 m^3.

n/V = (1.2 kg/m^3) / (28.97 g/mol) = 0.04147 mol/m^3

Therefore, the pressure in the air pocket is:

P = (nR/V)ΔT = (0.04147 mol/m^3)(8.31 J/(mol K))(51.78 K)/(0.001 m^3) = 13618.7 Pa

Converting to units of psi, we get:

P = 13618.7 Pa / 6894.76 Pa/psi = 1.975 psi

Therefore, the pressure in the air pocket trapped in the water bottle is approximately 1.975 psi.

answered
User Ondrej Janacek
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answer

1.19 atm

steps

combined gas law

p1v1/t1=p2v2/t2

volume same so

p1/t1=p2/t2

p2= p1t2/t1

p2=(335.65K*1 atm)/282.87K

p2=1.18658747835 atm

toppr

answered
User Kuujo
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7.7k points