Pressure Section 3 Icon Causal Patterns in Air Pressure Phenomena
Section 3: Relational Causality

Pressure > Section 3 > Lesson 6 > Understanding Goals
Lesson 6 Understanding Goals

Subject Matter

  • Although the relationship between force and surface area defines air pressure, both volume and temperature affect air pressure.
  • Boyle's Law states that at a constant temperature, the pressure times the volume of an enclosed gas remains constant. When one increases, the other decreases to maintain equilibrium.
  • An increase or decrease in volume (and the resulting decrease or increase in pressure) is often the result of an air pressure differential between the inside and the outside of an object.

Causality

  • A relational causal model can be used to understand Boyle's Law.
  • When our current models do not explain our observations of a phenomenon, we need to re-evaluate either our model or our observations. Often, we need to discard our current model for a model with a better explanatory fit.


©2003, President and Fellows of Harvard College, Understandings of Consequence Project