Question

A basketball is inflated to a pressure of 1.60 atm in a 21.0°C garage. What is the pressure of the basketball outside where the temperature is 4.00°C?

Answer 1

`PV = nRT`

`P/T = (nR)/V = P/T`

Thus,

`P_1/T_1 = P_2/T_2`

Note: we must use absolute temperature with all gas law questions.

Hence,

`(1.60atm)/(294K) = P_2/(277K)`
`therefore P_2 approx 1.51atm`

is the pressure of our basketball. No wonder so many tires go flat in Ohio when the temperature drops in the teens!