Lab #9

Gas Laws Lab

Hans Webster Labordo (B12)

Lizbeth Margaret Cadete (G6)
Salvie Grace Nacis (G21)
Zyrah Joyce Galvan (G14)
General Chemistry 1
February 12, 2019
Ma‘am Anne Mylene Itucal
Objective
To determine how the four gas laws (Boyle’s law, Charles’s law, Gay-Lussac’s law, and
Combined Gas law) function and affect the various experiments.

Introduction
The Gas Laws were created in the 17th Century and consist of analyzing the relationship of
three main factors: pressure, temperature, and volume. There are four gas laws; namely Boyle’s
law, Charles’s law, Gay-Lussac’s law, and the combination of all three, the Combined Gas Law
(Gas Laws: Overview, 2015). Boyle’s law states that pressure and volume are inversely
proportional. Charles’s law states that temperature and volume are directly proportional.
Meanwhile, Gay-Lussac’s law says that pressure and temperature are directly proportional (Gas
Laws, 2018). Finally, the Combined Gas Law is a combination of all three gas laws (Garcia,
2018).

Materials
Marshmallows, Syringe, Soda Can, water (hot and cold ice water), Glass Bottle, Lighter, Tea
Light candle, Tongs, Balloon, Glass jar

Procedures
The materials were first taken to the area where the experiment was conducted.

Experiment 1:
Three mini marshmallows were first placed inside a syringe. After attaching the
plunger back, it was then pushed down, just until it touched the third marshmallows top,
and then the syringe’s tip was covered with a fingertip. Next, the plunger was pulled
upwards. Observations were made and noted.
In the second part of the experiment, the finger was removed from the syringe’s tip
and then the plunger was pulled up. The tip of the syringe was, again, sealed with a
fingertip, and then the plunger was pushed back down. The effects were observed and
taken note of.

Experiment 2:
A soda can was first emptied out and before being cleaned and filled with 10 mL of
water. Afterwards, it was placed onto a dish and heated on a gas stove until it boiled and
steam escaped from the top. Once the steam appeared, the can was quickly picked up
with a pair of tongs and flipped upside down in a bowl of cold ice water. Observations
were made and noted.

Experiment 3:
First, an empty wine bottle was cleaned before being filled with 50 mL of water. A
balloon was then placed over its opening. Similar to the previous experiment, the wine
bottle was then placed onto a dish with water and heated over a gas stove until it began to
boil and release steam from both inside the wine bottle and dish. This was done until
visible changes to the balloon were observed. Afterwards, the wine bottle was carefully
removed from the dish and its contents were poured in a ceramic bowl. A thermometer
was then used to measure its temperature. Observations and measurements were noted.
 The second segment of the experiment is the same; but this time, 50 mL of cold ice
water is poured inside the wine bottle. The bottle was also placed onto a dish with water
and heated until it boiled and steamed. This was done until observable changes to the
balloon were seen. The contents of the bottle were then carefully poured in a bowl and
measured with a thermometer. Observations and measurements were made.

Experiment 4:
A tea light candle was first placed inside a dish which was then filled with water that
reached about a third of the candle. The candle was then lit using a lighter. Next, a glass
jar was used to cover the candle, carefully, that it does not put out the light. Observations
were made and noted.

Results and Conclusions

Experiment 1:

In the first half of the experiment, the marshmallows appear to stretch out inside the
syringe once the plunger was pulled up. What was being decreased inside the syringe was
pressure, while the one that was being increased was the volume. Pulling up on the
plunger of the syringe created a low pressure (i.e. a vacuum) that caused the
marshmallows to increase in size.
In the second half, it was the opposite that occurred. The marshmallows appeared to
wrinkle and shrink when the plunger was pushed down. What was being decreased inside
the syringe was volume, while pressure was increased. The marshmallows shrank
because when pressure is applied to a volume of gas, the molecules become compressed.
The law that was applied in this experiment was Boyle’s Law that states that pressure
and volume have an inverse relationship.

Experiment 2:

In the experiment that we conducted, no immediate observable changes to the soda

can were seen. Upon further inspection, we discovered two small dents in the back of the
can. There may have been various factors as to why nothing occurred (e.g. the
composition of the can, temperature needed). What was meant to happen, though, was for
the soda can to crumple or bend. This is because heating the can, until steam was released,
caused water vapor to push air out of the can. Suddenly inverting the heated can in a bowl
of cold ice water caused the vapor to condense which created a partial vacuum. The
partial vacuum inside the can made it possible for the pressure outside to crush the can
due to it being greater than the pressure inside the can.
The law observed in this experiment was the Combined Gas Law or perhaps Boyle’s
Law in a more contained reenaction of the experiment.

Experiment 3:

Temperature of Water Circumference of the Balloon

52 degrees 14 cm
 68 degrees 19 cm

As the wine bottle and its contents were heated, steam was released. The vapors
began to move upwards, up to the balloon that was secured to the opening. There, the hot
air and vapors began to accumulate and fill up the balloon until it expands.

The law that was applied in this experiment was Charles’s Law that states that
temperature and volume have a direct relationship. Meaning that as temperature rises so
does the volume. This explains why the balloon expanded as the bottle and the water
inside was heated.

Experiment 4:

Upon placing a glass over the lighted candle, bubbles escaped from under the glass
jar, and the flame inside began to slowly die while the water in the dish rose up. This
stopped when the candle’s flame finally burnt out. Eventually, water had filled a bit of the
glass jar and made them difficult to separate. This happened because the flame inside the
glass jar heats up the air inside which later on escapes (which explains the bubbles).
When the light of the candle was still up, the water level inside the jar was visibly lower
than that of the surrounding dish. This is because there is a higher pressure inside the jar
than the pressure in its surroundings. When the light inside dies out, however, the air
inside the glass cools which causes the molecules inside to contract and create a low
pressure or vacuum. Since the pressure outside is greater than inside the glass jar, it
begins to push in to create balance which accounts for the rise of water inside the glass jar.
This is an exemplification of Gay-Lussac’s Law which states that relationship of
pressure and temperature given a constant volume is that of direct proportionality – as
temperature increases, so does the pressure and vice versa.
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