"Deflategate": a BT Value question
I have seen no discussion by anybody, including especially the rants from the media, of conclusions that might be drawn from the basic law of thermodynamics:
PV=nRT,
The Volume of a football, particularly NFL game balls, is standard and a constant, not a variable.
The referees are said to have examined all game balls 2 hours before the game for compliance with NFL-mandated pressure inside the game balls, namely 12.5 lbs/square inch. What temperature was that pressure measured at---was it room temperature[65-75 degrees F] or game field temperature,likely 30-40 degrees lower than room temperature? What temperature were those game ball pressures measured at during half-time, where "deflated" pressures were found? Back at room T, or at game field T?
Is there any evidence, apart from media accusations,that any air molecules were removed from the volume of that football, as in deflating a bicycle tire by inserting a needle into the tire or its inflation valve to cause deflation? I have seen no such evidence. For purposes of further discussion, I will assume n, the number of moles or molecules inside the constant volume of a game ball, is also a constant and remained unchanged.
R in the above equation is also a universal constant.
Thus P, or pressure, varies directly as a function of T, or temperature.
The lower the T, the expected result is a lower P, or a "deflated pressure" as measured.
So far all media discussion seems to ignore a logical conclusion to be drawn from a fundamental law of thermodynamics represented by the above equation. Too quick to shoot, and think later, per usual. A basic question,not discussed that I have seen or heard, is the T at which game ball temperature was measured before the game and the T at which game ball temperature was measured at half-time---were those Ts the same or different? I will bet those Ts were 30-40 degrees different.
The original game T became steadily lower during the game, and was lower at half-time. Pressure was lower as a consequence.
Perhaps legally inflated balls were substituted for the original balls after half-time.
Have at it, or delete. Lets have some well-educated chemical engineers from MIT discuss the question---my chemical engineering degrees are merely from Northwestern and Princeton.
AI
