If a soccer ball is left on a hot blacktop driveway, predict what would happen to the pressure, volume and density of the air inside the ball. support your answers with an explanation of what is happening with the motion of the air particles as well.

Determining the effects of applying heat to a system requires analyzing the system itself. Assuming that the soccer ball can expand (like it does in real life), then applying heat will increase the volume, but NOT the pressure or the density. Density refers to how compressed the air is, but since the air can freely expand into a larger system, the air doesn’t get more dense. The same applies to pressure.

The air particles gain energy when heat is applied to the system, causing them to move faster and therefore collide with the walls of the ball more often. This either causes the pressure to increase (if the system is rigid), or the volume to increase (if the system isn’t rigid, which it isn’t). In applying heat, the ball expands, but the pressure and density remain constant.