If we take the law of an ideal gas:pV = nRTWe see that reducing the pressure to 0, or close to it, would lead to a similar drop in the temperature.What would be the temperature inside of a voided (emptied of any gas) chamber? Could we use it as a cooling storage?

Question

Rachael Trevino · Accepted Answer

In a vacuum chamber, the temperature of solid contents would equilibrate with the temperature of the chamber walls, regardless of the temperature of the gas. In a near-vacuum, radiation will dominate heat exchange.The temperature of the gas remaining in the chamber would indeed be very low until it was heated by contact with the contents and walls. However, there would not be enough gas to affect the temperature of the other contents. The heat capacity of a material varies directly with its mass, so if there is very little mass of air in the chamber, it takes very little energy to increase its temperature to thermal equilibrium with its surroundings.

If we take the law of an ideal gas: pV = nRT We see that reducing the pressure to 0, or close to it, would lead to a similar drop in the temperature. What would be the temperature inside of a voided (emptied of any gas) chamber? Could we use it as a cooling storage?

Open question

Answer & Explanation

New Questions in Thermal Physics