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Chemistry notebook Cambridge IGCSE 0620

Gases under pressure · 2 parts · syllabus 1.1

What happens to a gas when you squeeze or heat it?

Trap one sample of air in a sealed syringe. Load the plunger with weights, then warm and cool it in a water bath, and watch the same particles fill more or less space.

Start learning Explore the experiment
Two identical balloons: the one just out of the freezer is smaller and wrinkled; the one at room temperature is round and full. (enlarge)

Follow the idea

  1. Squeeze a gas

    Pressure and volume at the same temperature, explained with particles

    Not started

  2. Warm it, cool it

    Temperature and volume at the same pressure, explained with particles

    Not started
A sealed gas syringe held upright; a finger presses the plunger so the trapped air takes up less space.

The experiment · One sealed syringe of air · squeeze it, warm it, cool it

Run it yourself, or project it for the class

Use the apparatus step by step and look closely at what happens. The whole experiment fits one screen, so it works on a projector too.

Open the experiment