Abstract

In this article, the authors present a newly developed laboratory experiment on gas laws for engineering and non-engineering students in a Thai university that replaced the previous experiment. The new experiment allows students to practise multi-skills through the investigation of three gases: air (mix gas), oxygen (diatomic gas) and argon (mono-atomic gas). To measure the pressure and volume, students utilised an instrument that was built from available tools, such as a syringe machine and a pressure sensor connected to a laptop for real-time and accurate measurement. To record and analyse the data, an MS Excel spreadsheet was created and provided to students. In this experiment, students were able to prepare oxygen using the skill learned in a chemistry course, examine Boyle’s law and the universal gas constant, as well as learn to analyse data using MS Excel. By the ease of set up, the designed experiment is appropriate for use as a simple protocol for undergraduate teaching in basic physics or chemistry laboratory courses. The learning outcomes of engineering and non-engineering students were also compared, with the engineering students performing slightly better.