Key Concepts and Summary

Key Concepts and Summary

The behavior of gases can be described by several laws based on experimental observations of their properties. The pressure of a given amount of gas is directly proportional to its absolute temperature, provided that the volume does not change (Amontons’s law). The volume of a given gas sample is directly proportional to its absolute temperature at constant pressure (Charles’s law). The volume of a given amount of gas is inversely proportional to its pressure when temperature is held constant (Boyle’s law). Under the same conditions of temperature and pressure, equal volumes of all gases contain the same number of molecules (Avogadro’s law).

The equations describing these laws are special cases of the ideal gas law, PV = nRT, where P is the pressure of the gas, V is its volume, n is the number of moles of the gas, T is its kelvin temperature, and R is the ideal (universal) gas constant.

Key Equations

• PV = nRT

Glossary

absolute zero

temperature at which the volume of a gas would be zero according to Charles’s law.

Amontons’s law

(also, Gay-Lussac’s law) pressure of a given number of moles of gas is directly proportional to its kelvin temperature when the volume is held constant

Avogadro’s law

volume of a gas at constant temperature and pressure is proportional to the number of gas molecules

Boyle’s law

volume of a given number of moles of gas held at constant temperature is inversely proportional to the pressure under which it is measured

Charles’s law

volume of a given number of moles of gas is directly proportional to its kelvin temperature when the pressure is held constant

ideal gas

hypothetical gas whose physical properties are perfectly described by the gas laws

ideal gas constant (R)

constant derived from the ideal gas equation R = 0.08206 L atm mol^–1 K^–1 or 8.314 L kPa mol^–1 K^–1

ideal gas law

relation between the pressure, volume, amount, and temperature of a gas under conditions derived by combination of the simple gas laws

standard conditions of temperature and pressure (STP)

273.15 K (0 °C) and 1 atm (101.325 kPa)

standard molar volume

volume of 1 mole of gas at STP, approximately 22.4 L for gases behaving ideally