Basic Chemistry and Biking

How could I forget...

I complain about how hard it has been to bike... like peddling through mud.  Oi.

Then I remembered a little bit of chemistry...

the ideal gas law [simplified]

PV = nRT

P - pressure
V - volume
n - moles of gas
R - gas constant
T - temperature

the volume of the tube in the tire remains constant, and it's sealed [hopefully] so n should be the same as well.  So if I reduce T as it has been lately, then obviously P will go down too...

To increase P then would be then to either decrease volume [not possible], increase T [I wish, but I can't], R can never change, so the only way would be to increase n... i.e. put more air in the tire!!

I get home and use my compressor [because there's no such thing as free air pumps anymore] and put a few more pumps into it [the gauge on the compressor doesn't show anymore, and I didn't feel like breaking out my hand gauge] and do a lap around the block.  Much easier.

There ya go... used my chemistry knowledge once today!  I feel good now that I've spent so much on that degree.