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 ⎠