University of Technology

Department of Biomedical
Engineering
Thermodynamics Laboratory
Class: 2nd year
 Experiment 1
Boyle’s Law
1- Objects of the experiment - To learn and verify the relationship between volume and
pressure according to Boyle's law.
2- Principles
The volume of a fixed quantity of a gas depends on the pressure acting on the gas and on
the temperature of the gas. If the temperature remains unchanged, the product of the
volume and the pressure remains constant in many cases. This law, discovered by Robert
Boyle and Edme Mariotte, is valid for all gases in the ideal state, which is when the
temperature of the gas is far above the point that is called its critical temperature. The law
discovered by Boyle and Mariotte states that:
(1)

In the experiment, the validity of Boyle’s Law at room temperature is demonstrated by taking
air as an ideal gas. The volume V of air in a cylindrical vessel is varied by the changing the
height of mercury level, while simultaneously measuring the pressure P of the enclosed air
Apparatus:
There are many devices suitable for conducting such an experiments are illustrated in
Figure (1). However the apparatus used in this particular experiment is given in Figure
(2). It mainly consists of two glass/plastic’ tubes (limbs) connected together by a rubber
tube (hose) to give it flexibility during movements up and down, and getting a shape of
a u-tube mercury manometer. The glass tube (AB) fitted with a tap by which the top
end of this limb can be closed during the experiment. While the other end (bottom) is
connected by a length of rubber tubing to an open end glass tube (CD).The open end
(top of limb, CD) of the manometer is exposed to the atmosphere. Consequently the
atmospheric pressure ( 𝑷𝒂𝒕𝒎 ) must be added to the pressure exerted by the column of
mercury. The first step in this experiment is thus to measure the atmospheric pressure
using the manometer containing no trapped air. However, during the experiment a
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sample of air is trapped in the closed end of the manometer (part AX). Carefully
measure the heights of the columns of mercury and the column of trapped air. (The
trapped air has artificially been given a light green color in Figure (2). Use this data to
calculate the volume of the trapped gas and the pressure.

Figure (1): Different types of devices used to verify Boyle’s law

Theory:
It is apparent that Equation (1) is an equation of the second degree, since the left side is
the product of two variable quantities. When the pressure is plotted as a function of the
volume, an equilateral hyperbola, as shown in Figure (3), below is obtained.

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Figure (2): The apparatus used for verifying the Boyle’s law.

Figure 3 showing the variation of pressure vs volume

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 𝑷𝒂𝒃 = 𝑷𝒂𝒕𝒎 + 𝑷𝒈𝒂𝒖𝒈𝒆 = 𝑷𝒂𝒕𝒎 + (𝝆𝒈𝒉)𝑯𝒈
Where, 𝝆 represents mercury’s density (13600 kg/m3, g acceleration of gravity, h in cm
Hg represents the difference in height between the top level of mercury (point Y and
point X) in the right limb (CD)
But, according to the Boyle’s Law we can write,
𝑷𝒂𝒃 ∗ 𝑽 = [𝑷𝒂𝒕𝒎 + (𝝆𝒈𝒉)𝑯𝒈 ] ∗ 𝑽 = 𝑪
𝑪
[𝑷𝒂𝒕𝒎 + (𝝆𝒈𝒉)𝑯𝒈 ] = (𝟑)
𝑽
𝑽 = 𝒗𝒐𝒍𝒖𝒎𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒊𝒓 = 𝑨𝑳
Here, A represents the cross-sectional area of the gas/air tubes, which will be considered
constant (= k) and L denotes the difference in height between points A and X shown in
Figure (2). Thus, equation (3) becomes:
𝑪
[𝑷𝒂𝒕𝒎 + (𝝆𝒈𝒉)𝑯𝒈 ] =
𝑨𝑳
𝑪 𝟏 𝑷𝒂𝒕𝒎 𝑪𝟏 𝑪𝟏
Hence 𝒉 = . − = − (𝒉𝑯𝒈 ) ≅ − 𝟕𝟔 𝒄𝒎 𝑯𝒈
𝑨𝑳 𝝆𝒈 𝝆𝒈 𝒌𝑳 𝒂𝒕𝒎 𝒌𝑳

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Discussion:
1. What would happen where the pressure was very small?
2. What would happen where the volume was very small?
3. Are the statements aforementioned realistic or not?
4. What experimental factors are assumed to be constant in this experiment?
5. Is the relationship between pressure and volume direct or indirect? Explain.
6. What would you notice when you calculate [ P.V (= pressure x volume)] for each set
of results?
7. What does the slope of the line appears in the graph between pressure and reciprocal
of volume represents?
8. What does the relationship between pressure and volume called?
9. Calculate the average value of the (P.V=C) and the average deviation.
10.The relative percent error (uncertainty) in this constant can be determined as:
Relative percent error = (Average deviation/Average value) =100%

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 Experiment 2
Determining the Specific Heat Capacity of Solids
1- Objects of the experiments - Mixing cold water with heated copper, lead or glass
shot and measuring the mixture temperature. - Determining the specific heat
capacity of copper, lead and glass.
2- Principles The heat quantity Q that is absorbed or evolved when a body is heated
or cooled is proportional to the change of temperature and to the mass m:

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 Experiment 3
Heat Pump
Introduction
Heat pumps are devices that move heat in a direction that is opposite of spontaneous flow.
This means that a heat pump moves heat from a location with a cooler temperature to
another location with a warmer temperature. The term heat pump can be used to describe a
device that heats or cools a given location. Heat pumps can be used in a variety of
applications including refrigeration, air conditioning, and heating. The function of heating
or cooling is determined by the conditions of the environment and where the heat is released
by the heat pump.
Objective
The purpose of the heat pump experiment was to determine the performance values of the
Hylton Air and Water Pump System. This was done by taking readings at the four basic
components of the system: the compressor, condenser, expansion valve, and evaporator.
The readings were taken so it could be determined where work was put in and where heat
was added or removed. These values allowed for the calculation of the heat pump efficiency
and the coefficient of performance.
Theory
The basic functions of a thermodynamic cyclic process. In a thermodynamic cycle process
a service medium (e.g. R 134a) passes through various changes of state in a pre-set
sequence. The changes of state are repeated cyclically, so the service medium repeatedly
returns to its initial state. That is why the process is termed a cyclic process (Fig. 1). Change
of state refers to compression, expansion, heating or cooling: - Compression means
absorption of mechanical energy - Expansion means discharge of mechanical energy -
Heating means absorption of thermal energy heat - Cooling means discharge of thermal
energy

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Water temperatures are measured by standard digital/mercury thermometers [Figure (3)] in
both evaporator and condenser reservoirs. While pressures are measured by refrigeration
quality pressure gauges. Their values are not need to be measured in this experiment because
they are not used in the calculations. Electrical power input to the heat pump compressor is
measured by an integrating a watt/volt and ampere meters where power expended is a direct
function of volts , amperes and time.

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Result/Calculation

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