Question

The balloon Spirit of Freedom, flown around the world by American Steve Fossett in 2002, contained 550,000 cubic feet of helium. How much PΔV work was done by the balloon on the surrounding atmosphere, assuming atmospheric pressure was 1.00 atm while the balloon was being inflated?

Answer 1

Assuming the balloon initially has volume of 0 when deflated, the total P(deltaV) = (1.00 atm)(550,000 ft^3) = 550,000 atm-ft^3. To convert into work units, we can first convert ft^3 to L:
(550,000 atm-ft^3)(1 m/3.28 ft)^3
= (15,586.2 atm-m^3)
Then we convert to L:
(15,586.2 atm-m^3)(1000 L/m^3)
= 15,586,200 atm-L
Then we convert to J:
(15,586,200 atm-L)(101.325 J / 1 atm-L)
= 1.579 x 10^9 J