Tire pressure-Ideal gas law
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Started by metmike - Jan. 28, 2026, 1:10 p.m.

With this severe cold, the air pressure in our car tires has plunged because of the ideal gas law.

What Should My Tire Pressure Be in Winter?

https://www.lesschwab.com/article/tires/what-should-tire-pressure-be-in-winter.html


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By metmike - Jan. 28, 2026, 1:13 p.m.
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By metmike - Jan. 28, 2026, 1:17 p.m.
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The Ideal Gas Law

https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-physics/chapter/13-3-the-ideal-gas-law/

The figure has three parts, each part showing a pair of tires, and each tire connected to a pressure gauge. Each pair of tires represents the before and after images of a single tire, along with a change in pressure in that tire. In part a, the tire pressure is initially zero. After some air is added, represented by an arrow labeled Add air, the pressure rises to slightly above zero. In part b, the tire pressure is initially at the half-way mark. After some air is added, represented by an arrow labeled Add air, the pressure rises to the three-fourths mark. In part c, the tire pressure is initially at the three-fourths mark. After the temperature is raised, represented by an arrow labeled Increase temperature, the pressure rises to nearly the full mark.

Figure 3. (a) When air is pumped into a deflated tire, its volume first increases without much increase in pressure. (b) When the tire is filled to a certain point, the tire walls resist further expansion and the pressure increases with more air. (c) Once the tire is inflated, its pressure increases with temperature.

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9.2 Relating Pressure, Volume, Amount, and Temperature: The Ideal Gas Law

https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-albany-chemistry/chapter/relating-pressure-volume-amount-and-temperature-the-ideal-gas-law/

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Tire Pressure Math

We see in the example that the change in tire pressure with temperature is about 1 psi for every 10 °F change in temperature for a 40 psi tire pressure at 68 °F. In Figure 2, I look at two different air temperatures. You will notice that for a given tire pressure, the pressure change with temperature increases with lower reference temperature.

Figure 3 shows a graph of how the tire pressure (40 psi @ 68 °C) varies with temperature.

Figure 3: Tire Pressure Graph.

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I got a warning about my tire pressure being low yesterday when the temperature was 10 deg. F.

The tire pressure had dropped to 29 psi in all the tires, so I pumped them up to 32 psi. 

When the temperature gets back above 50 degrees F, the tire pressure is going to get back above 35 psi.