Here's my rant:
To everyone out there who is now giving the Patriots grief about the underinflated balls, I would like to introduce you to basic Chemistry. If you can remember chemistry, in it, we learned about something called the Natural Gas Law in which we learned there was a ratio between pressure and temperature.
Pressure is caused by the force of the gas molecules impacting the sides of its container. The higher the temperature, the more pressure can be created by the same volume of gas. When the temperature is lowered, pressure reduces (PV=nRT where P= Pressure, V=Volume, n=moles of gas, R=gas constant and T= Temperature). If you want to do the math yourself, here's some handy hints.
First, solve for P.
P= nRT/V.
Second, we have to decide what remains constant and eliminate it. Well, the gas constant, obviously. The internal volume of the ball does not change, either, leaving us with....
P= nT.
Third, for the sake of argument (and this is a valid point, as well), we'll assume the loss of the gas moles is negligible to the point you can write off n as well.
P=T
Fourth, we now have to set up a situation wherein we have a beginning and ending set.
Gay-Lussac's Law states:
P1/T1= P2/T2.
Once you get the numbers from the temperature inside Gillette where the balls were initially filled and the numbers outside where they were then tested, you arrive at a situation wherein you lose pressure.
