Calculator Programming Tutorial

Programming Building Blocks I

Examples

Ballistic Pumpkins

Air Density

Program Analysis

Now that we have functions for the air pressure and the air temperature as a function of height, we can compute the air density as a function of height. We return to the ideal gas law:

PV = nRT

Density is mass per unit volume, so recasting this, we have:

n/V = P/RT

This will give us moles per volume. Recall from the speed of sound section that air has an approximate effective molecular weight of 29.1 g/mole, so the air density is

ρ = (0.0291 kg mole^-1)P/(8.314 kg m² mole^-1 °K^-1 sec^-2)T
= 0.003500 P/T °K sec² m^-2

If the pressure is measured in Newtons per square meter (kg m^-1 sec^-2), and temperature is in degrees Kelvin (°K), the density will be in kilograms per cubic meter.

This can be programmed very straightforwardly.

We can also quickly write a unit test for this routine. We have nothing to compare the density with, however: all we can do is plot it. In keeping with our philosophy of using English units for our graphs, however, we do note that one kilogram per cubic meter is about 0.001941 slugs per cubic foot. (Yes, a “slug” is the English unit of mass. It is the mass that will be accelerated by one foot/second² by a force of one pound. It weighs 32.174 pounds when subjected to one gravity.)

Calculator Code

Program DENSH (57 bytes):

; Program DENSH
;
; Compute the air density in kilograms per cubic meter at a specific
; height in meters
;
; Variables:
; A is height [on entry], pressure [on exit from PRESSH], temperature
;   [on exit from TEMP], density [on exit from this routine]
; B is destroyed [PRESSH], pressure
; C is saved height
;
; Symbols:
; -> is assignment arrow
; / is division operator
 
A->C               ; Save height in C
Prog "PRESSH"      ; Get pressure in Newtons/square meter
A->B               ; Save pressure in B
C->A               ; Get height in A
Prog "TEMP"        ; Get temperature at height
.0035B/A->A        ; Compute density

Program UTDENSH (119 bytes):

; Program UTDENSH
;
; Call DENSH for heights from 0 to 100,000 feet and display the
; logarithm of the result.
;
; Variables:
; A is height [to DENSH], density [from DENSH]
; B-C are destroyed by DENSH
; D is height
;
; Symbols:
; -> is assignment arrow
; EE is EXP key
; (-) is unary negation operator
; <> is not equal to relational
 
ViewWindow 0,100000,10000,(-)5,(-)2,1
                   ; Set the view window
For 0->D To 100000 Step 1000
                   ; Loop through the altitudes
.3048D->A          ;   Convert height to meters
Prog "DENSH"       ;   Get density in kilograms/cubic meter
1.941EE(-)3A->A    ;   Convert to slugs per cubic foot
Plot D,log A       ;   Plot the point
If D<>0            ;   If this is not the first point
Then Line          ;     connect last point and this one
IfEnd              ;   [End of test if this is the first point]
Next               ; [End of loop through altitudes]
"DONE"             ; Notify of completion

Out of this, we get the following graph of the logarithm of air density (in slugs per cubic foot) as a function of height (in feet):

Screen shot of calculator

The graph’s Y values range from -5 to -2, and so the calculator excludes the X axis, and just gives the tick marks instead.

This does not tell us much. However, the NASA page defining the properties of air mentions that at sea level on a standard day, the air density is 0.00237 slugs per cubic foot. Our routine computes 0.00239 slugs per cubic foot for an altitude of 0, which at least gives us some hope that we got it right.

Visual Basic for Application Code

We can code the air density function and unit test in Visual Basic for Applications as follows.

Private Function Density(ByVal Meters As Single) As Single
 
'   FUNCTIONAL DESCRIPTION:
'
'       Computes the density of air in kilograms per cubic meter as  a
'       function of height in meters.
'
'   FORMAL PARAMETERS:
'
'       Height.rf.v - The height in meters for which the  air  density
'           is to be computed.
'
'   IMPLICIT INPUTS:
'
'       None.
'
'   IMPLICIT OUTPUTS:
'
'       None.
'
'   RETURN VALUE:
'
'       The air density in kilograms per cubic meter at the  specified
'       height.
'
'   SIDE EFFECTS:
'
'       None.
'
 
    Dim sngPressure As Single
    Dim sngTemp As Single
 
    sngPressure = Pressure(Meters)
    sngTemp = Temp(Meters)
    Density = 0.0035 * sngPressure / sngTemp
 
End Function

Private Sub UTDensity()
 
'   FUNCTIONAL DESCRIPTION:
'
'       Unit test for the air density routine.
'
'       Graphs the common logarithm of air density as  a  function  of
'       height.
'
'   FORMAL PARAMETERS:
'
'       None.
'
'   IMPLICIT INPUTS:
'
'       None.
'
'   IMPLICIT OUTPUTS:
'
'       plt - The CalculatorGraph control.
'       The text of the current document.
'
'   RETURN VALUE:
'
'       None.
'
'   SIDE EFFECTS:
'
'       None.
'
 
    Dim sngFeet As Single
 
    plt.ViewWindow 0, 100000, 10000, -5, -2, 1
    For sngFeet = 0 To 100000 Step 1000
        plt.Plot sngFeet, Log10(0.001941 * Density(0.3048 * sngFeet))
        If sngFeet <> 0 Then
            plt.PlotLine
        End If
        DoEvents
    Next sngFeet
    WriteLn "Density unit test run."
 
End Sub

Running the unit test gives us the same results as the calculator.

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