School learnersPredict and observeExample · 4 steps · 9 min

Gas Under Pressure

Squeeze a piston, pump a ball, heat a spray can and sit on a balloon: explain each pressure change with particles hitting the walls.

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The piston halves the volume. Number of particles and temperature stay the same. What happens to the pressure?

It stays the same, because there are still 12 particles.It doubles, because the particles hit the walls twice as often.It halves, because the particles have less room to move.

Show a hint

Pressure = how often and how hard particles hit the walls.

About this activity

What you practise: You linked three causes of pressure (less space, more particles, higher temperature) to how often and how hard particles hit the walls, and used this to explain everyday effects.

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The piston halves the volume. Number of particles and temperature stay the same. What happens to the pressure? A closed cylinder holds 12 gas particles. The piston pushes the volume from 1.0 L to 0.5 L. Temperature stays the same. Before, the particles hit the walls 40 times per second. Same particles, same speed, half the space. They reach a wall twice as often, about 80 times per second, so the pressure doubles.