Charles's Law

By: Shelby Canfield

*His full name is Jacques-Alexandre-Cesar Charles*He was born in Beaugency, Loiret, France on November 12, 1746*Died in 1823*Received a liberal education; with no scientific focus*Moved to Paris is 1799 to work in the bureau of finances; This is when he became interested in nonmathematical, experimental physics*In 1781 he began giving public experimental demonstrations; people who had already received considerable no to riety attended these performances*In result from his performances in 1795 he was appointed a resident member of the Academie de Sciences (France Academy of Sciences) *Other positions he held were being a professor of experimental physics/librarian at the Conservatoire de Arts et Métiers*1816 he became president of the Class of Experimental Physics at the academy*Julie- Francoise Bouchard des Herettes became his wife in 1804 and died in 1817 from a long illness

*The discovery of the hydrogen balloon was actually brought about by another experiment of another scientist. *Joseph Montgolfier and his brother Etienne, experimented with hot air and a paper bag. On June 4, 1783 they successfully launched a manned balloon made of linen covered with paper. The fuel for the balloon was an open fire which was fed by the pilot of the balloon. *The French Academy of Science quickly received news of this event and put Charles in charge of investigating it. *At the time British scientist Henry Cavendish just discovered a gas 14 times lighter than air, and it was being called “flammable air.” With time they would call this air Hydrogen.*Charles worked with oxygen, nitrogen, carbon dioxide, and hydrogen to discover this law. *He was studying the compressibility of gas (a century before Boyle).*In his experiments he discovered that at a fixed pressure, the volume of a gas is proportional to the temperature of the gas.

V1 = V2T1 T2

Example: Assume that 10 cm3 of a gas has a temperature of 200 degrees absolute. If the temperature is increased to 300 degrees absolute what is the new volume?

Answer: 15 cm3

In the example you can see that a constant pressure is kept in this experiment. As the temperature (absolute temperature) is increased, the volume will increase as well.

Practice Problems

Charles's Law Calculator

V1 = V2T1 T2

The discovery of this law helped him make the first gas powered balloon to go up in the air with a human inside. Charles’s design is still used today with balloons: made out of silk, had a solution of rubber dissolved in turpentine to prevent gas from escaping, at the top of a balloon was a tube where expanded gas could escape so the balloon would not blow up.

*Hydrometer*Reflecting Goniometer*Improved the Gravesand heliostat and Fahrenheit’s aerometer*Best known for Charles’s Law and inventing the hydrogen balloon*On August 27, 1783 the balloon ascended to a height of nearly 3,000 feet*That particular balloon landed outside of Paris, but was “attacked” and destroyed by pheasants who were frightened of it. *On December 1, 1783 he and Aine Roberts achieved a height of 1,800 feet in the newly built La Charliere. *In return for his achievements Charles’s was elected to the French Academie des Sciences in 1785.

http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/charles-law-at-carleton-university/DD0B0F52CFA9A87D3472DD0B0F52CFA9A87D3472

http://www.centennialofflight.gov/essay/Dictionary/Charles/DI16.htm http://www.bookrags.com/biography/jacques-alexandre-cesar-charles-woc/

http://www.tpub.com/content/aerographer/14312/css/14312_41.htm