Relations in a chemistry text

Mark A. Bell m487396 at BIGPOND.COM
Wed Mar 20 00:11:59 UTC 2002


Hello,

I've been looking at some text from a chemistry textbook. I'm a
beginner at RST analysis and I have a couple of questions. Here's some
of the text:

(a) Boyle observed that
(b) when he compressed a fixed amount of gas at constant temperature,
the pressure of the gas increased in a certain way.
(c) A graph of the dependence is shown in Fig.5.7.
...
(d) The data used to construct Fig 5.7. gives a straight line when we
plot the pressure against 1/volume (Fig 5.8).
(e) The linear plot implies that, for a fixed amount of gas at constant
temperature, pressure is inversely proportional to volume, V:
(f) this relation is known as Boyle's law.

Question 1

What relation do you see between spans (a) and (b)?
On the one hand, I see Boyle's act of observation in (a) further
elaborated by the text in (b):

Elaboration
 Nucleus: (a) Boyle OBSERVED that
 Satelite:(b) when he compressed a fixed amount of gas...

On the other hand, span (b) seems more able to stand on its own, which
suggests that it is really the nuclear span.

Question 2

What relation do you see between spans (d), (e), and (f)?
I see that (d) provides evidence for (e):

Evidence:
Satelite: (d) The data... gives a straight line
Nucleus:  (e) The linear plot implies that... pressure is inversely
proportional to volume

However, I am not sure about the relationship between (d - e) and (f).

(f) this relation is known as Boyle's law.

Does it elaborate the conclusion drawn in (d - e) by naming it? Does it
summarize Boyle's finding by condensing it into its technical name
'Boyle's Law'?

All suggestions gratefully received.

Mark A. Bell



=====
Sydney, Australia
http://www.users.bigpond.com/m487396



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