Flat basketball

Many of you may have noticed the phenomenon that basketballs get flat if the weather is cold. If a basketball was inflated to a gauge pressure of 60,000 Pa when the temperature outside was 2 0 C 20^\circ\mbox{C} , what is the gauge pressure inside the basketball in Pa when the temperature is 1 0 C 10^\circ\mbox{C} ?

Details and assumptions

  • The outside air maintains a constant pressure of 1 atm=101,325 Pa as the temperature changes.
  • The basketball always has a circumference of 0.75 m.
  • Gauge pressure is the pressure above ambient pressure.


The answer is 54497.

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2 solutions

Discussions for this problem are now closed

Tunk-Fey Ariawan
Jan 27, 2014

First of all, it's not a mechanical problem. It's a thermodynamics problem!

From the ideal gas law we have P V T = constant, \frac{PV}{T} = \text{constant,} where P P is absolute pressure (gauge pressure + + atmospheric pressure) and T T is absolute temperature ( t C + 273.15 \text{t } ^{\circ}\text{C} + 273.15 ). Since the basketball's volume is assumed constant, V 1 = V 2 V_1 = V_2 , we obtain P 1 V 1 T 1 = P 2 V 2 T 2 60 , 000 + 101 , 325 20 + 273.15 = P g a u g e + 101 , 325 10 + 273.15 P g a u g e 54 , 494.027 Pa \begin{aligned} \frac{P_1V_1}{T_1} &= \frac{P_2V_2}{T_2}\\ \frac{60,000+101,325}{20+273.15} &= \frac{P_{gauge}+101,325}{10+273.15}\\ P_{gauge} &\approx \boxed{54,494.027 \text{ Pa}} \end{aligned}

Clifford Wilmot
Dec 17, 2013

Pressure is directly proportional to temperature, so Pressure Temperature \frac{\text{Pressure}}{\text{Temperature}} is constant. Therefore (correcting for gauge pressure and converting to Kelvin): 60000 + 101325 20 + 273.15 = P new + 101325 10 + 273.15 . \frac{60000+101325}{20+273.15}=\frac{P_{\text{new}}+101325}{10+273.15}. Hence P new = 54496 54500. P_{\text{new}}=54496\approx 54500.

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