Tom Brady (University of Michigan alum) of the New England Patriots was accused of intentionally deflating footballs below the legal limit. The NFL rules state that a game used football needs to be inflated between 86.2-93.1 kPa. Inside the locker room at a temperature of 25.6 °C, the equipment manager inflated each of the Patriots' 12 footballs with 4.24 liters of air to 86.2 kPa, before the game.During the 2014-15 AFC Championship game, officials reported that nearly all of the Patriots' game balls were "deflated" to about 79.3 kPa. The outside temperature reached a low of 8.3 °C during the game.
1. Assuming the volume of the football is held constant, what pressure should the balls drop to when accounting for the temperature difference from inside to outside? Was this temperature change drastic enough to be the cause of the observed deflation?
2. How cold would it have to get outside in order for the pressure to drop to what was reported?
3. Holding outside temperature constant, what volume would the balls have to become in order to account for the "pressure drop"?
4. How many moles of air would have been removed IF the balls were deflated to the "supposed"79.3 kPa in the locker room before the game? (Assuming volume and temperature are held constant.)
5. Do you think someone could have let air out of the footballs, or could the drastic drop in temperature from locker room to playing field account for the pressure change?