Question

from my ATMO class

Suppose you are about to begin a rafting trip through the Grand Canyon. A guide unrolls your inflatable raft on the grass next to the river and pumps air into the raft until it becomes nice and firm. The raft is then placed onto the cold water of the Colorado River and is anchored to a tree by a rope. A short time later you notice that the raft has lost its firmness and has become “baggy”. A whiner in your group cries “Oh no! There is a hole in our raft. I’m not going!” But you say “Don’t worry the raft lost its firmness because it was put in the cold water.”  Use the kinetic model to explain why the raft would lose its firmness. In your answer you should relate the kinetic model explanation for the changes in the movement of gas molecules to what happens to the temperature and number density of the air in the raft after being placed in the cold water.

Answer 1