Question

State the applications of compressibility of gases in our day-to-day life.

Answer 1

Hint: When compared with liquid or solids, gases tend to have much larger compressibility. This is proportional to the spaces between the molecules present. The more the space between the particles, the more will be the chances of compressing the constituent particles.

Complete step by step answer:
We know that the particles inside a gaseous medium are at a great distance as compared to those in solids and liquids. If the space between the particles is large, there will be more degree of compressibility. Compression just minimizes the spaces between the particles.
A large amount of pressure is required in order to compress the gases. This property of compressibility of gas is used in day-to-day life. Some such applications are:
- A large amount of gas can be compressed in a comparatively small chamber and can be used like in LPG (Liquefied Petroleum Gas) and CNG (Compressed Natural Gas). Thus, large volumes of gas can be easily transported and placed in a single cylinder.
- Another common application of compression of gas can be seen in cold drinks. Gas like carbon dioxide, which can be dissolved in liquids, is compressed in these drinks. These gases are kept at low temperatures under high pressure so that they remain dissolved in liquids.

Note:
Although gases have more degree of compressibility, it doesn’t mean that the liquids and solids cannot be compressed. They can also be compressed, but a larger amount of pressure is needed in order to do so. The maximum force needed to compress is for solids because particles are already close to each other.