Absolute Zero Laboratory Report Life Sciences Essay (Essay Sample)

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Lab 7: Absolute Zero Laboratory Report
Abstract
The objective of this laboratory experiment was to use the Ideal Gas Law and measurements of pressure and temperature to extrapolate the value of absolute zero on the Celsius scale. Though the results of the experiment differed from the theoretical value, it was observed that there was a consistent trend in approaching this value.
Introduction
If the volume of an ideal gas was to be maintained constant, and its pressure kept at zero, the corresponding temperature would have a value of -273.15 degrees Celsius. This is the lowest attainable temperature of the gas. This relationship is represented by equation (1):
P=nRVT------(1)
Where: P is the pressure of the gas, n the number of moles, R the specific gas constant, T the temperature, and V the volume of the gas. According to equation (1), at a constant volume the pressure and temperature of a gas are directly proportional to each other. Thus, at a pressure value of 0kPa, it would be expected that that the value of the temperature would be equal to 0 degrees Celsius. This relationship is further explored in the subsequent experiment.
Procedure