All posts tagged "Ideal Gas Equation"

Think of a cake. When you put it in the oven, it starts off at a particular volume and then, an hour later, it has risen to perhaps double its size. It is obvious what has happened – the air bubbles that you have carefully folded into the mixture during the preparation and the little bubbles of carbon dioxide created by the baking powder have expanded as they are heated in the oven, taking the rest of the cake with it. All this time, the pressure of the air inside those bubbles has stayed the same (you know that because cakes don't usually explode when you slice them after cooking).