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Air Density Calculation & Uncertainty Analysis

(1) The document provides equations to calculate air density using the ideal gas law, given pressure and temperature measurements of a hot air balloon. (2) Applying the equations, the density is calculated to be 1.06 kg/m^3 with an uncertainty of ±0.328% or ±3.47 × 10-3 kg/m3. (3) The uncertainty comes from propagating the uncertainties in the pressure and temperature measurements through the ideal gas law calculation of density.

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Kauê Britto
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26 views1 page

Air Density Calculation & Uncertainty Analysis

(1) The document provides equations to calculate air density using the ideal gas law, given pressure and temperature measurements of a hot air balloon. (2) Applying the equations, the density is calculated to be 1.06 kg/m^3 with an uncertainty of ±0.328% or ±3.47 × 10-3 kg/m3. (3) The uncertainty comes from propagating the uncertainties in the pressure and temperature measurements through the ideal gas law calculation of density.

Uploaded by

Kauê Britto
Copyright
© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Problem 1.

41 [Difficulty: 2]

Given: Air in hot air balloon

p = 759 ± 1 mm Hg T = 60 ± 1°C

Find: (a) Air density using ideal gas equation of state


(b) Estimate of uncertainty in calculated value

Solution: We will apply uncertainty concepts.

p
Governing Equations: ρ= (Ideal gas equation of state)
R⋅ T
1
⎡⎛ x ∂R ⎞
2
⎤2 (Propagation of Uncertainties)
u R = ± ⎢⎜⎜ 1
u x1 ⎟⎟ + L⎥
⎢⎣⎝ R ∂x1 ⎠ ⎥⎦

3 N kg⋅ K 1 kg kg
We can express density as: ρ = 101⋅ 10 × × × = 1.06 ρ = 1.06
2 287⋅ N ⋅ m 333⋅ K 3 3
m m m

1
⎡⎛ p ∂ρ ⎞ 2 ⎛ T ∂ρ ⎞ 2 ⎤ 2
u ρ = ± ⎢⎜⎜ u p ⎟⎟ + ⎜⎜ uT ⎟⎟ ⎥
⎢⎣⎝ ρ ∂p ⎠ ⎝ ρ ∂T ⎠ ⎥⎦
So the uncertainty in the density is:

p ∂ρ 1 1
Solving each term separately: = RT =1 up = = 0.1318%
⋅
ρ ∂p RT 759

1
T ∂ρ T ⎛ − p ⎞ p uT = = 0.3003%
⋅
= ⎜ ⎟=− = −1 333
ρ ∂T ρ ⎝ RT 2 ⎠ RT

[
u ρ = ± (u p ) + (− uT ) ] [ ]
1 1
= ± (0.1318% ) + (− 0.3003% )
Therefore: 2 2 2 2 2 2

⎛ kg ⎞
u ρ = ±0.328% ⎜ ± 3.47 × 10 −3 3 ⎟
⎝ m ⎠

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