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Chapter 17: Problem 3

Why are you supposed to check tire pressure when your tires are cold?

Short Answer

Expert verified
Checking tire pressure when it's cold is recommended because temperature affects air pressure. After tires have been used, they and consequently, the air inside, heat up, which makes the air pressure seem higher than it actually is. To ensure an accurate measure, it's important to check the pressure after the tires have cooled down.

Step by step solution

01

Understanding the Problem

In this question, we are looking at the reason for checking tire pressure when the tires are cold. This involves understanding the relationship between temperature and air pressure, and how that affects a tire.
02

Connection Between Temperature and Air Pressure

According to the ideal gas law, when the temperature of a gas increases, so too does its pressure if the volume is kept constant. This is because the gas molecules move more quickly and collide with the walls of their container (in this case, the tire) more frequently and with more force.
03

Applying the Concept to Tires

After driving, the tires get hot due to friction between the tires and road surface. Therefore, the air inside the tire also heats up, which consequentially increases the air pressure inside the tire. This isn't a true representation of the tire's resting pressure as it's influenced by the external condition (driving).
04

Importance of Checking Tire Pressure When Cold

To get an accurate measure of tire pressure, we should check it when the tires are cold, i.e., haven't been recently used. This ensures that the reading isn't artificially high due to the increased temperature since the tire and the air inside have had enough time to cool and the air pressure to stabilize. This is why tire manufacturer's provide a 'cold' inflation pressure that should be used as the standard for inflating tires.

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Most popular questions from this chapter

Your professor asks you to order a tank of argon gas for a lab experiment. You obtain a "type C" gas cylinder with interior volume \(6.88 \mathrm{L}\). The supplier claims it contains 45 mol of argon. You measure its pressure to be 14 MPa at room temperature \(\left(20^{\circ} \mathrm{C}\right)\) Did you get what you paid for?

The average speed of the molecules in a gas increases with increasing temperature. What about the average velocity?

How is it possible to have boiling water at a temperature other than \(100^{\circ} \mathrm{C} ?\)

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Describe the composition and temperature of the equilibrium mixture after \(1.0 \mathrm{kg}\) of ice at \(-40^{\circ} \mathrm{C}\) is added to \(1.0 \mathrm{kg}\) of water at \(5.0^{\circ} \mathrm{C}\)
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