Compressibility is the ability of matter to reduce its volume in case the pressure increases while the temperature is constant.
General Compressibility Examples
- When an airplane flies at a speed greater than the speed of sound, while the pressure exerted on the air is so great as to compress the air in front of the airplane, it causes shock waves to arise.
- When a domestic gas tank is filled with the corresponding gas, being a high-pressure filling, a greater amount of gas will enter than if it were at atmospheric pressure. The higher the pressure used for refilling, the greater the compressibility.
- When a can is filled with air and immersed in water, as the depth increases, compressibility will be greater due to the pressure exerted by the water.
- A diving tank because it is filled with compressed air, therefore pressure is applied so that as much air as possible enters, but in the same volume.
- When a container is filled with sand and pressure is exerted on it inwards, compressibility will be greater because the density increases, the total volume decreases and therefore more sand enters.
- When we inflate a tire, we are filling it with high-pressure air. The higher the pressure, the greater the compressibility of the air and hence it becomes ‘harder’; As it is a moderately flexible material, it sometimes expands more than it should.
Examples of compressibility in gases
- By filling a syringe with a gas and plugging the outlet hole, it is possible to press the syringe a little and compress the gas inside. This would happen with a liquid to some extent, but not to the level of a gas because of the separation between its molecules.
- When inflating a balloon, the air is expanding inside, but it can also be compressed by squeezing the balloon.
- The gas and compounds in an inhaler when they are introduced into the device.
- The gas that is introduced into a container with an aerosol system.
Examples of compressibility in accounting
- The inclusion of notes in the accounting information to facilitate its understanding by general users.
- Decision-making by the accountant so that the information is not biased.
- Writing reports with data and keywords to facilitate the understanding of accounting data.
- Faithful representation of the accounting information of the company, institution or organization.
- The inclusion of all the information, since for ease of understanding, data from the reports should not be omitted.
What is compressibility?
It is a property in matter that allows all bodies to decrease their volume if they are subjected to a certain pressure or compression as long as other parameters, such as temperature, are constantly maintained.
Compressibility factor
The compressibility factor is a positive number in stable systems, since when the pressure increases, the volume decreases, in unstable systems, an opposite effect can be observed.
Depending on the state of aggregation of the matter, it will be the compressibility factor, which as already mentioned is the relationship that exists between the increase in pressure and decrease in volume, and which is therefore greater in the gaseous state and lower in the solid state.
From the above, it is understood that a gas decreases its volume more when a small pressure is applied and a solid requires more pressure to reduce its volume a little.
Compressibility Differences in Solids, Liquids, and Gases
As mentioned in the previous section, compressibility in a stable system will result in the compressibility factor being a positive number, which translates into an increase in the pressure on this system, the volume decreases. For the opposite case, i.e. unstable systems, the explanation would work in the opposite way.
- Solids – If you look at them at the molecular level, they are difficult to compress, considering that their molecules are already very close together and therefore the free space between them is limited.
- Gases – They contrast with solids because their molecules are widely separated and therefore highly compressible according to temperature and pressure conditions.
- Liquids – Depending on the temperature and pressure conditions, they are also very difficult to compress. In any case, there is a greater compressibility if compared to solids.
Compressibility in accounting
From the perspective of accounting, the notion of compressibility is used to refer to the fact that an organization’s financial statements can provide information that is relevant and understandable to general users who may not be so accustomed to dealing with this type of data.
En otras palabras, la compresibilidad en contabilidad es una referencia a que la información pueda ser leída, captada, comprendida y discutida por aquellos usuarios que no guardan una relación profunda con el manejo de información o de estados financieros.
Es un concepto que se ha elaborado de esta manera porque hay una diversidad de usuarios considerable que accede con regularidad a los estados financieros y por ende no sería lógico que un marco conceptual de esta clase excluya a todos aquellos que no cuentan con la preparación para el tratamiento de esta información que es clave más allá de la profesión de cada persona.
Principio de compresibilidad
Es un concepto de lógica pura. La compresibilidad es la capacidad de comprimir / reducir / minimizar, y justamente lo podemos aplicar en muchas cosas. Si hablamos de fisica y/o química, podrían ser gases, líquidos o sustancias propias del área. Si hablamos de contabilidad, es de números. Si hablamos en programación, podría ser de código. Si hablamos en computación, podría ser de espacio.
