Constructed a Low-Vacuum Chamber with a Food Container: A Wireless Sensor Gas Law Experiment

This research aimed to develop a user-friendly experimental set for studying gas laws and to investigate the relationship between volume and pressure inside a vacuum food container. The prototype consisted of a 1-litre polypropylene food vacuum container with a four-sided locking lid, modified to connect to a small air pump as vacuum pump. A wireless pressure sensor was integrated, capable of measuring pressures in the range of 300–1100 hPa. The developed apparatus demonstrated that the selected vacuum container maintained its shape without deformation under low-pressure conditions and was able to sustain reduced pressure throughout the experiments. Within a 30-second period, the small air pump successfully achieved a minimum pressure of approximately 474 hPa, which does not deform the shape of the food container. In the experiment, a balloon was placed inside the food container, and then the volume changes of the balloon were investigated. When the pressure decreased, the balloon expanded. The Tracker program was used to measure changes in the balloon’s diameter, from which its volume was calculated. The measured pressures from the wireless sensor showed an error margin of 6.06% compared to the calculated. The results indicated that the relationship between the balloon’s volume and the reciprocal of pressure (1/P) exhibited a linear trend with range 1003.15 – 474.90 hPa pressure, confirming an inverse relationship between volume and pressure, consistent with Boyle’s Law. This study demonstrates that an easy-to-construct experimental set can effectively study the gas laws, especially in contexts where access to specialized laboratory equipment is limited.