Gas is a state of matter that has no fixed shape and no fixed volume.

Gases have lower density

than other states of matter, such as solids and liquids. There is a great deal of empty space
between particles, which have a lot of kinetic energy. The particles move very fast and collide
into one another, causing them to diffuse, or spread out, until they are evenly distributed
throughout the volume of the container.
When more gas particles enter a container, there is less space for the particles to spread out, and
they become compressed. The particles exert more force on the interior volume of the container.
This force is called pressure. There are several units used to express pressure. Some of the most
common are atmospheres (atm), pounds per square inch (psi), millimeters of mercury (mmHg)
and pascals (Pa). The units relate to one another this way: 1 atm = 14.7 psi = 760 mmHg = 101.3
kPa (1,000 pascals).
Besides pressure, denoted in equations as P, gases have other measurable properties: temperature
(T), volume (V) and number of particles, which is expressed in a mole number (n or mol). In
work involving gas temperature, the Kelvin scale is often used.
Because temperature and pressure vary from place to place, scientists use a standard reference
point, called standard temperature and pressure (STP), in calculations and equations.
Standard temperature is the freezing point of water 32 degrees Fahrenheit (0 degrees Celsius,
or 273.15 Kelvin). Standard pressure is one atmosphere (atm) the pressure exerted by the
atmosphere on Earth at sea level.

Gas laws
Temperature, pressure, amount and volume of a gas are interdependent, and many scientists have
developed laws to describe the relationships among them.
Boyle's law
Boyle's law is named after Robert Boyle, who first stated it in 1662. Boyle's law states that if
temperature is held constant, volume and pressure have an inverse relationship; that is, as volume
increases, pressure decreases, according to the University of California, Davis' ChemWiki.
Increasing the amount of space available will allow the gas particles to spread farther apart, but
this reduces the number of particles available to collide with the container, so pressure decreases.
Decreasing the volume of the container forces the particles to collide more often, so pressure is
increased. A good example of this is when you fill a tire with air. As more air goes in, the gas
molecules get packed together, reducing their volume. As long as the temperature stays the same,
the pressure increases.
Charles' law (Gay-Lussac's law)
In 1802, Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac, a French chemist and physicist referenced data gathered by
his countryman, Jacque Charles, in a paper describing the direct relationship between the

temperature and volume of a gas kept at a constant pressure. Most texts refer to this as Charles'
law, but a few call it Gay-Lussac's law, or even the Charles Gay-Lussac law.
This law states that the volume and temperature of a gas have a direct relationship: As
temperature increases, volume increases, when pressure is held constant. Heating a gas increases
the kinetic energy of the particles, causing the gas to expand. In order to keep the pressure
constant, the volume of the container must be increased when a gas is heated.
This law explains why it is an important safety rule that you should never heat a closed container.
Increasing temperature without increasing the volume available to accommodate the expanding
gas means that pressure builds up inside the container and may cause it to explode. The law also
explains why a turkey thermometer pops out when the turkey is done: The volume of air trapped
under the plunger increases as the temperature inside the turkey climbs.
Avogadro's number
In 1811, Italian scientist Amedeo Avogadro proposed the idea that equal volumes of gas at the
same temperature and pressure will have an equal number of particles, regardless of their
chemical nature and physical properties.
Ideal gas constant
The kinetic energy per unit of temperature of one mole of a gas is a constant value, sometimes
referred to as the Regnault constant, named after the French chemist Henri Victor Regnault. It is
abbreviated by the letter R. Regnault studied the thermal properties of matter and discovered that
Boyle's law was not perfect. When the temperature of a substance nears its boiling point, the
expansion of the gas particles is not exactly uniform.
Ideal gas law
Avogadro's Number, the ideal gas constant, and both Boyle's and Charles' laws combine to
describe a theoretical ideal gas in which all particle collisions are absolutely equal. The laws
come very close to describing the behavior of most gases, but there are very tiny mathematical
deviations due to differences in actual particle size and tiny intermolecular forces in real gases.
Nevertheless, these important laws are often combined into one equation known as the ideal gas
law. Using this law, you can find the value of any of the other variables pressure, volume,
number or temperature if you know the value of the other three.