in this video we're gonna talk about how

a bicycle pump works but before we go

into the actual mechanics of how it

works

let's begin our discussion with the

principles of pressure and volume and

air flow so looking at this diagram that

we have on the board which side would

you say has a higher pressure of gas

would you say the left side or the right

side now intuitively you know that the

left side has a higher pressure of gas

the reason being is there's more

molecules per unit volume on the left

side as the number of gas molecules

increases in a container the number of

collisions between those gas molecules

and the walls of the container increases

and with more collisions you have a

greater force that's exerted by these

molecules on the walls of the container

now pressure and force are related

pressure is force divided by area so

anytime you increase the force that's

applied on a surface you also increase

the pressure these two are derelict

excuse me directly related if you double

the force applied over on a surface the

pressure will double as well so the

right side must have less pressure than

the left side now here's a question for

you in which direction will air flow

will the flow from the right side to the

left side or from the left side to the

right side air will naturally flow from

a region of high pressure to a region of

low pressure and there's more gas

molecules on the left side so those will

by diffusion just flow into the right

chamber or the chamber on the right side

now here's another question for you how

can you increase or decrease the

pressure that is inside of a container

perhaps from chemistry or physics class

you've heard of something called Boyle's

law and his law describes the

relationship between pressure and volume

but here's what you need to know as you

increase the volume of a container the

pressure is going to decrease and as you

decrease the volume of a container the

pressure is going to increase now in

this diagram we have two containers with

roughly the same volume and the same

number of molecules so the pressure is

approximately equal but what's going to

happen if we apply a downward force on

the piston as we apply a downward force

on a piston the volume of the container

on the left side is going to decrease

and as we said before according to

Boyle's law the pressure should increase

because we're compressing air as

illustrated by the diagram on the right

the volume of the container on the left

side has been reduced by a factor of two

so it's been cut in half the pressure is

going to increase proportionately so the

pressure is going to increase by a

factor of two so on the left side we

have a region of high pressure and on

the right side we have a region of low

pressure so air is going to flow from

the region of high pressure to the

region of low pressure so it's going to

flow into the container on the right

side so now we have the situation

represented by the diagram on the board

at this point the pressure in both

containers is about the same now what's

going to happen if we lift up the piston

let's say if we pull it up this is

referred to as upstroke what do you

think is going to happen well according

to Boyle's law if we increase the volume

if we expand the gas the pressure is

going to decrease

the pressure always decreases when

whenever a gas expands so now let's move

on to the next diagram as we can see the

volume has increased and so the pressure

is lower on the left side and on the

right side we have a region of higher

pressure so at this point air is going

to flow from the right side to the left

side it always flows from a region of

high pressure to a region of low

pressure but now in a typical bike pump

the chamber on the right side would

usually represent the tire and the

chamber on the left side should

represent the pump because that's where

the piston is located in this case we

don't want air to flow out from the tire

back into the pump because that would

defeat the purpose of pumping air into a

tire so how can we prevent air from

flowing from the tire to the pump in

this case we need a valve particularly a

one-way valve a valve that will allow

air to flow from the pump to the tire

and not the other way around now for the

picture on the Left we're gonna say the

left chamber has more pressure than the

chamber on the right and then we're

gonna have a valve right now the valve

is closed as represented by the red line

now because the left side has a higher

pressure than the right side air is

going to flow from left to right so as a

result it's going to push the valve open

in order to do so so the valve is going

to open let's do that again and then air

is going to flow to the right side now

for the picture on the right side we're

gonna say the chamber on the left has a

lower pressure and the chamber on the

right has a higher pressure

and let's say initially the valve is

open air will flow from or will want to

flow from the right side to the left

side but as that happens it's going to

push the valve towards the left now

because we have this piece of material

here it's not going to allow the valve

to open in this way as air pushes the

valve the valve is going to close at

this position it can't go any further

because that little block here is in the

way

as a result air is not able to flow from

the right chamber to the left chamber

and so this is a one-way valve that

keeps air in the tire prevent it from

coming back up through the pump now

let's go ahead and put everything

together so on the left side we have the

bike pump and on the right side we're

gonna say this compartment represents

the tire I know doesn't look like a tire

but just for the sake of simplicity

let's say that represents the tire now

when you raise the piston to its high

position initially the pressure that is

inside that chamber is low with respect

to the pressure of the atmosphere the

atmospheric pressure at sea level is 1

atm 1 unit of atmospheric pressure which

is about 14.7 PSI or pounds per square

inch now at this instant air is going to

flow from the atmosphere into the pump

because as we said before air flows from

a region of high pressure to low

pressure and this is going to continue

until the pressure of the atmosphere is

equal to the pressure inside the pump

and notice that while this is happening

this valve will be in an open position

because as air flows this way it's going

to force that valve to open and that is

the inlet valve now let's say if we

reverse the pressures let's say for

educational purposes that's a pressure

inside the pump is higher than the

pressure of the atmosphere in this case

air will want to flow outward and as a

result some of the molecules will exert

a force on the inlet valve thus closing

it and so it's going to be in the closed

position prevent an air from coming out

so the inlet valve allows air to flow

into the pump but it prevents air from

flowing out of the pump now let's go

back to the situation that we had before

so when the piston is at the top the

atmospheric pressure will be higher than

the air pressure inside the pump and as

a result air is going to open the inlet

valve flowing into the pump until the

two pressures reach a state of

equilibrium

now while the pressure is low inside the

pump the tire will usually be at a

higher pressure at that point and so air

will want to flow this way from a region

of high pressure to a region of low

pressure but because of this piece as we

said before the outlet valve will be in

the closed position prevents an air from

flowing in that direction now the next

thing we're going to do is we're gonna

push the piston down so we're gonna

apply a downward force to compress the

air in the left side and what we're

going to do is we're gonna decrease the

volume of the chamber in the left by a

factor of 10 it could be different for

different pumps but 10 is the nice

number to deal with

so if we decrease the volume by a factor

of 10 the pressure is going to increase

by a factor of 10 now before this once

air flowed into the pump the two

pressures will be the same it's going to

reach a state of equilibrium

so after air has been allowed to flow

into the pump the pressure inside here

will be the same as the atmospheric

pressure 1 atm

but now when we apply a downward force

to compress the air on the left side the

pressure is going to increase by a

factor of 10 so it's going to be 10 atm

if we decrease the volume by a factor of

10 so at this point the pressure inside

the pump is going to be very high and

it's going to be higher than the

pressure inside the tire so as a result

air is going to flow from the pump into

the tire force in the outlet valve to be

in the open position in addition the

atmospheric pressure is still 1 atm

so it's a lower than the pressure inside

the pump so air will also want to flow

in this direction but it won't be able

to because the inlet valve will now be

in the closed position so air has only

one way to travel that is from the pump

into the tire and so that's how a bike

pump works so basically you apply a

downward force to compress air increase

in a pressure force in that air to flow

into the tire then you have two valves

the inlet valve and the outlet valve

which works in a way to allow air to

flow in but it prevents flow it prevents

air from flowing in the outward

direction out of the pump so that's the

basic mechanics of how the bike pump

works so that's it for this video thanks

for watching