The Rough Guide to Gas

Controlling the gas

Squashing and cooling

Selina Seagullbicycle pumpIf you have ever used a bicycle pump to blow up a flat tyre on a bike, you may have found out the pump gets warm. This is because when a gas is squashed it heats up. It's not just because you are getting hot with all the effort!

So when the gas suppliers turn up the compressor, this makes the gas hotter. The temperature can rise from about 5°C to almost 100°C, which is much too hot to send to the customers!

The gas needs to be cooled. But how?

Cooling

How could you cool the gas? Which of these do you think would work?

Blow on the pipes with a big fan

Put lots of ice cubes around the pipes

Run cold water over the pipes

Add a de-compressor (a 'reverse bicycle-pump') to unsquash the gas, making it cool again

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