Question

You buy an airtight bag of potato crisps packaged at sea level, and take the crisps on an airplane flight. When you take the potato crisps out of your luggage, you notice it has noticeably “puffed up.”

(a) Airplane cabins are typically pressurized at 0.75 atm, and assuming the temperature inside an airplane is about the same as inside a potato chip processing plant, by what percentage has the bag “puffed up” in comparison to when it was packaged?

(b) What temperature would you need to heat/cool the bag to on an airplane in order to make it as puffed up as it is at sea level? Is it practical to achieve this temperature inside a regular commuter aircraft? Assume that the crisps are packed at room temperature 20 C.

Answer 1