• Question: How much pressure can air withstand? Can it can get denser and denser and still be stable? How about if any energy it did emit was also trapped, and was squashed (pressure increased) even further?

    Asked by batman to Tom, Matt, Hugh, Douglas, Antonia on 15 Jun 2010 in Categories: .
    • Photo: Matthew Hurley

      Matthew Hurley answered on 14 Jun 2010:

      Batman, I’m not quite sure what you mean. Air can be put under immense pressure so much so that parts turn to liquid – but I don’t think that was your question was it?

    • Photo: Tom Hardy

      Tom Hardy answered on 15 Jun 2010:

      Don’t think of air as air, think of it as a gas. A gas is made up on lots of atoms or molecules that move around freely. A gas is a gas because of the big spaces between the particles. Liquids and solids have the same particles but are more closely packed. When you apply pressure (make the container smaller) then you are correct, the volume will get smaller but it will indeed get denser. If you keep applying pressure the air will become a liquid and if you keep going you may even get a solid form. With compression comes more stored energy but remember things like temperature also have an affect.

      Going back to your withstand question, I think it is more likely the container or device you would use to apply pressure to the air will not be able to withstand the force required to keep applying pressure.

    • Photo: Hugh Roderick

      Hugh Roderick answered on 15 Jun 2010:

      I don’t know

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