Preview - Ideal Gas Laws - Connected Chemistry 2019

Why does the marshmallow expand?

Once again, before moving on to our computational explorations, let us consider the experiment on the right:

  1. The experimenter places a marshmallow inside an unsealed syringe.
  2. He pushes the plunger all the way until the marshmallow.
  3. He seals the syringe with his fingers.
  4. He pulls the plunger all the way
  5. The marshmallow expands.

 

Why does the marshmallow expand? Let's hypothesize.

Note: If your teacher has syringes (and maybe even marshmallows), you should try to conduct this experiment yourselves.

Questions

Please answer the questions below.

What is the difference when the plunger is pushed all the way and when it is pulled all the way? Draw a sketch for each condition. (please spend no more than 6 minutes on this task).

Note: please use colors other than black to differentiate with the balloon outline.

Note: Draw your sketch in the sketchpad below

Please explain your sketch verbally (min. 3 sentences)

Did "gas pressure" factor into your thinking? If yes, please elaborate. If no, why? (min. 2 sentences)

Why do you think a marshmallow is used in this experiment? What would happen if we used a piece of wood instead?

Notes

These notes will appear on every page in this lesson so feel free to put anything here you'd like to keep track of.