Engaging students through a fun gas laws experiment

Hands-on practical experiments are a vital element in illuminating engineering concepts which are complicated or hard to grasp. Two topics which come under this are Archimedes' principle and the gas laws. The authors have created a laboratory experiment that is simple to set up and quick for students to do, where they weigh balloons filled with different gases and determine their contents using Archimedes' principle and the gas laws. The laboratory has been made more fun as it is presented as a puzzle to solve: which gas is in which coloured balloon? By providing fewer balloons than there are groups, students must share, making the lab more kinaesthetic. Through thinking about lift, displacement, and the gas laws, students develop a good understanding of the principles required while enjoying the learning experience.