Squeezing Gases

Adiabatic heating and cooling

An interactive lesson with 6 steps, about 5 minutes: you predict, drag and solve, with instant feedback on every answer. It runs in your browser and needs JavaScript.

What you’ll learn

• Rapid (adiabatic) compression heats a gas: $T_2/T_1 = r^{\gamma - 1}$.
• Diesel engines and fire pistons ignite fuel by compression alone.
• Rapid expansion cools gases, forming clouds.

Steps

1. No time for heat to escape
2. A warm bike pump
3. Diesel ignition
4. A fire piston
5. Half the volume
6. Cloud in a bottle