How Does Boyle's Law Explain Gas Behavior in a Vacuum?

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In a thought experiment involving a balloon in a perfect vacuum, the discussion centers on how Boyle's Law applies to gas behavior. It is clarified that the balloon's radius will not expand indefinitely; instead, the expansion will cease when the internal pressure equals the tension in the rubber material. This indicates that the expansion is not a free process, as the tension in the balloon plays a crucial role. Additionally, if gas were to expand freely in a vacuum, its motion would be random, and the radius would not increase at a constant rate. Understanding these principles helps clarify the dynamics of gas behavior in a vacuum.
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Trying to wrap my head around this thought experiment and I was hoping to get some expert advice on this:

Take a balloon made out of a rubber that can stretch infinitely thin without breaking blown up to normal balloon size. Next put it in an infinitely large, perfect vacuum and let it go.

If my head is wrapped around this correctly, the balloons radius should expand at a constant rate indefinitely should it not?
 
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DNMock said:
Trying to wrap my head around this thought experiment and I was hoping to get some expert advice on this:

Take a balloon made out of a rubber that can stretch infinitely thin without breaking blown up to normal balloon size. Next put it in an infinitely large, perfect vacuum and let it go.

If my head is wrapped around this correctly, the balloons radius should expand at a constant rate indefinitely should it not?
Not unless the balloon material has some magical property that prevents it from providing tension. At some point the pressure inside the balloon will be equal to the inward pressure created by the tension in the rubber and the expansion will stop. This is not a free expansion.

If a gas is allowed to expand freely in a vacuum, the motion of the gas molecules would be random. I don't think the radius of the gas cloud would expand at a constant rate. The radius increase would follow statistical laws for random motion.

AM
 
Andrew Mason said:
Not unless the balloon material has some magical property that prevents it from providing tension. At some point the pressure inside the balloon will be equal to the inward pressure created by the tension in the rubber and the expansion will stop. This is not a free expansion.

If a gas is allowed to expand freely in a vacuum, the motion of the gas molecules would be random. I don't think the radius of the gas cloud would expand at a constant rate. The radius increase would follow statistical laws for random motion.

AM

Ah, ok that makes proper sense to me. I felt like it should slow down over time but couldn't figure out why, but it's the tension of the balloon itself. That makes sense now, thank you for helping my head pass it's brain fart :)
 
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