Koç University

Fall 2021
Chem301 Physical Chemistry Laboratory

Experiment 1:

P-V and P-T Relationships of Ideal and Real Gases

Experiment Date: 08.10.2021

Due Date: 17.10.2021
Instructor: Pınar Tatar Güner

Student Name: Eren Dükel

Student ID: 71700
Partner: Begüm Süyök
Lab section: LabB

ABSTRACT
 The aim of the experiment is to comprehend the relationship between a gas's pressure,
temperature, and volume. Results showed that In a closed system, we discovered that when
the volume of a gas drops, its pressure increases and, there is a direct mathematical
relationship between pressure and temperature. Experimental results and pressure
calculations were parallel to each other. Nitrogen has more ideal behavior than air and real
gasses does behave more like ideal gasses in low pressure high temperature conditions.

INTRODUCTION
Ideal gas is a assumption that there is no interaction between the gas molecules. The
lack of intermolecular interactions makes it easier to understand the 5 main components of
the gasses. These main components are: pressure, volume, mole number, temperature, and
the Gas constant (P,V, n, T, R respectively). Ideal gasses are expressed as:

PV =n R T
Another way to describe an ideal gas is the compressibility factor:
PV
Z=
nRT
Due to the lack of the intermolecular interactions, compressibility factor of the ideal
gasses are 1. When gasses go further away from the ideality this ratio changes. Despite the
fact that the ideal gas equation is a highly helpful, all gasses deviate from it in some
manner. In real world there are attractions between molecules. 1

Figure 1: The Effect of Temperature on the Real Gases.1

As can be seen from the figure 1, at lower temperatures molecules deviate further
from the ideal behavior. The reduction in energy of the molecules leads them to slow down
when a gas is cooled. The attractive forces between molecules are more evident when the
particles are traveling at reduced speeds2.
 Figure 2: The Effect of Pressure on the Real Gases.3
As can be seen from the figure 2, When a gas is compressed under pressure, the
empty space between the particles shrinks, forcing the molecules closer together. The notion
that the volume of the molecules is insignificant becomes less relevant as the unoccupied as
the space decreases. 3
Van der Waals realized that, for a real gasses, the ideal gas formula had to be
adjusted.  To accomplish these adjustments, he established two constants, a and b. The
attractive forces among the gas molecules and the volume of gas particles excluded are
represented by a and b, respectively.4
RT a
P= − 2
Vm−b V m

The variables a and b are unique to each gas. As the coefficients of these constants
approach zero, the van der Waals equation of state reaches the ideal gas law PV=nRT. The
intermolecular forces are compensated for by the variable a. The volume of 1 mol of
molecules is the number of variable b, which is a compensation for limited molecular size.

The temperature where a system has the least energy is known as absolute zero. On
the Celsius scale, it equals 273.15°C. The behavior of gas molecules at extremely low
pressures indicates that there is an absolute minimum temperature. As the temperature drops,
it was seen that gases appear to shrink forever. With what is now known as absolute zero, an
ideal gas at would also achieve zero volume. The ideal gas is merely a hypothesis for real gas
behavior since real gas compresses to liquid or solid at a temperatures greater than absolute
zero.5

EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE:
Part 1:
1. Firstly, the gas pressure sensor (Ch 1) and the lab quest mini is plugged in to the
computer, logger pro software is opened and boyle’s law file is opened.
2. The 20 mL syringe’s piston is moved into the 10 mL mark (lower edge of the rim)
when it is still disconnected. The 20 mL syringe is attached into the pressure sensor.
3. By clicking the collect button, data collection is started.
a) Piston is moved to the 5.0 mL mark and waited until the data is stabilized.
b) To collect the data, keep button is pressed and the gas volume is typed in the edit
box (0.8 mL is added in order to count the internal volume).
c) Piston is moved to the 7.0 mL mark, and section b is repeated,
d) Same procedure is applied to the 9.0, 11.0, 13.0, 15.0, and 17.0 mL marks and
when it’s all done, stop button is pressed to stop collection.
4. File is saved as CSV and pressure, volume pairs are recorded on the table.
5. The same procedure is repeated for N2 gas.

Part 2:
1. Firstly, the gas pressure sensor (Ch 1) and the temperature sensor (Ch 2) is plugged to
the lab quest mini and that is connected to the computer, logger pro software is
opened and Pressure - Temperature file is opened.
2. The rubber stoper is inserted into the 125 mL Erlenmeyer flask and two-way valve is
closed.
3. Magnetic stirrer is inserted to the beaker and beaker is filled up with water (room
temp). E. flask is immersed into the beaker. Beaker is placed on top of the heater
(don’t turn it on yet.).
4. By clicking the collect button, data collection is started.
a) Temperature probe is inserted to the beaker, when readings stabilized. Keep button
is pressed to collect data.
b) Heater is turned on and for every 5 ͦ C increased, keep button is clicked to collect
data until 75 degree Celsius.
5. File is saved as CSV and pressure, temperature pairs are recorded on the table.
6. The same procedure is repeated for N2 gas.

RESULTS:
(Unit conversions are done trough excel)
Part 1:
1)
Volume of the gas Gas pressure (air) Volume of the gas Gas pressure (N2)
(air) (L) (atm) (N2) (L) (atm)
0.0058 1.871 0.0058 1.872
0.0078 1.426 0.0078 1.366
0.0098 1.126 0.0098 1.078
0.0118 0.933 0.0118 0.898
0.0138 0.794 0.0138 0.766
0.0158 0.693 0.0158 0.674
0.0178 0.617 0.0178 0.595
Table 1: P-V Relation of the gasses
2)

P-V Relation of the gasses

2
1.8
Pressure of The Gasses (atm)

1.6 f(x)
f(x) == −− 99.2857142857143
98.6964285714286 xx ++ 2.23728571428571
2.20018928571429
1.4
1.2 Air
1 Linear (Air)
N2
0.8
Linear (N2)
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
0.005 0.007 0.009 0.011 0.013 0.015 0.017 0.019
Volume of The Gasses (L)

3)
As can be seen in the lines in the graph, gas pressures decrease as the volume of gases
increases. As can be interpreted from this relationship, there is an inverse relationship
between pressure and confined volume of the gas.
4)
In this experiment, room temperature, external pressure, internal volume of the sensor, initial
temperature, mole numbers, of the gases were assumed constant.
5)
PV
PV = nRT n =
RT
1.872 atm× 0.0058 L
= 0.00045 mol
0.08206 Latm K −1 mol−1 × 294.15 K
1.366 atm× 0.00 7 8 L
−1 −1 = 0.000441 mol
0.08206 Latm K mol × 294.15 K
1.078 atm × 0.00 98 L
−1 −1 = 0.000438 mol
0.08206 Latm K mol × 294.15 K
0.898 atm× 0.0 118 L
−1 −1 = 0.000439 mol
0.08206 Latm K mol × 294.15 K
0. 766 atm ×0.0 13 8 L
= 0.000438 mol
0.08206 Latm K −1 mol−1 × 294.15 K
0. 674 atm ×0.0 1 5 8 L
−1 −1 = 0.000441 mol
0.08206 Latm K mol × 294.15 K
0. 595 atm× 0.0 17 8 L
−1 −1 = 0.000439 mol
0.08206 Latm K mol × 294.15 K

Volume of the gas (N2) (L) Gas pressure (N2) (atm) Number of moles (N2) (mol)

0.0058 1.872 0.00045

0.0078 1.366 0.000441
0.0098 1.078 0.000438
0.0118 0.898 0.000439
0.0138 0.766 0.000438
0.0158 0.674 0.000441
0.0178 0.595 0.000439
Table 2: Number of moles (N2) from Pressure and Volume
6)
Average number of moles =
0.00045+0.000441+0.000438+0.000439+0.000438+ 0.000441+ 0.000439
= 0.000441 mol
7
N2

7)
P=
RT a
− 2
Vm−b V m Percent deviation = | X 1−X
X2
2
× 100|

Van der Waal constants for N2:

a (L2 atm / mol2) = 1.39 b (L/mol) = 0.0391
Example calculation (calculations are done trough excel)
−1 −1 2 −2
0.08206 Latm K mol × 294.15 K 1.39 L atm mol
−
13.152−0.0391 L/ mol 13.152❑
2

Volume of the Experimental Gas Calculated Gas pressure Deviation

gas (N2) (L) pressure (N2) (atm) (N2) (atm)

0.0058 1.872 1.840742429 1.6981

0.0078 1.366 1.367711457 0.125
0.0098 1.078 1.088094672 0.928
0.0118 0.898 0.903401951 0.598
0.0138 0.766 0.772310329 0.817
0.0158 0.674 0.674442719 0.066
0.0178 0.595 0.598589156 0.6

Part 2:
1)
Temperature air (K) Pressure of air (atm) Temperature N2 (K) Pressure of N2
(atm)
294.75 0.999457192 294.38 0.980903035
300.65 1.013964964 299.72 0.994423884
303.95 1.023242043 303.96 1.006859117
309.85 1.041006662 308.73 1.020379965
314.95 1.054626203 313.66 1.035183814
319.95 1.070713052 318.67 1.047026894
324.95 1.083444362 323.68 1.058080434
329.95 1.098544288 328.61 1.066962744
334.95 1.114532445 333.67 1.078213669
339.95 1.130323217 338.68 1.089958056
344.95 1.144732297 343.76 1.103084135
 349.95 1.159536146

2)

P - T Relation of the gasses

1.2

1.15
f(x) = 0.00292969560444169 x + 0.133309709790222
1.1
f(x) = 0.00244097466141153 x + 0.265391663815141
Pressure (atm)

air
1.05
Linear (air)
1 N2
Linear (N2)
0.95

0.9

0.85
290 300 310 320 330 340 350 360
Temperature (K)

As can be seen in the lines in the graph, gas pressures increase as the temperature of gases
increases. As can be interpreted from this relationship, there is an direct relationship between
pressure and temperature of the gas.
3)
In this experiment, room temperature, external pressure, mole numbers, heating and stirring
levels, and volume of the gases were assumed constant.
4)
 T-P Relation for N2
50 f(x) = 407.977026055179 x − 380.104103537681
R² = 0.995861583038725
0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
-50

-100
Temperature (C)

-150

-200

-250

-300

-350

-400
Presure (atm)

DISCUSSIONS:
1) No we can’t write a ideal gas equation form the 2 section. As we can see form the P-V
Relation of the gasses chart, the data lines are curve out. We know that from the Ideal
gas eq. as we increase the pressure by one unit, volume should go down 1 unit.
Example :
PV = nRT assume nRT = 22.4 P = 2 atm and V= 11.2 L
2*11.2=22.4
P: 2/2 = 1 V: 11.2×2 =22.4
1×22.4 = 22.4 equation holds.
Since our lines creates curves we need correction factors to keep the ration between P
and V. Which makes a real gas eq.

2) Although the differences between two gasses are pretty small, N2 is behaving closer to
Ideal gas. We know that air is 21% O2 and 78% N2 . The compressibility factor of an
PV
ideal gas is 1( Z= ). The compressibility factor of N2 is closer to 1 than O2.
nRT
3) Although they are not equal the maximum percent deviation is 1.7. the results are
extremely close to each other. We can say that these differences caused by
experimental factors such as temperature changes due to room or even body temp.
 (since we are touching to the syringe) or we had a little bit of air in N2 since we cant
create vacuum in the sensor. They don’t have to be same but they should be very
close as it is.

4) Percent error = | X 1−X

X2
2
× 100| = |
−380.1−−273.15
−273.15
×100|= 39.15%

As we can see from the trendline, theoretically pressure is equal to zero at – 380.1 ͦ C,
which is impossible. The absolute zero temperature is -273,15 ͦ C, there is no lower
value than that in the universe in terms of temperature. So somewhere under the
experimental temperature the curve must be smooth out in order to achieve 0 atm
pressure at -273,15 ͦ C. but the other problem is, at some point, real gasses will liquefy
or solidify before absolute zero point.

5) In the experiment the range that we collect data is very narrow to create a accurate
trendline. Our data is collected between 21-71 ͦ C in this range we cannot create a
trendline for real gasses. In order to make a acceptable one, we should collect data
from a wider range (like -100 / 71 ͦ C), which is hard to do due too extremely low
temperature.

6) At low pressure and high temperatures, real gasses behave very much like ideal gases.
By expanding the space around each molecule, low pressure reduces the influence of
the particles. High temperatures provide the particles with enough kinetic energy to
overcome the inter molecular attractions that exist between particles.6
7) Because intermolecular attractions are weaker in gases, they behave more optimally
N2 is closer to the ideal gas behavior. Carbon dioxide is a big molecule with a lot of
interactions with other molecules. It's a polar molecule. Nitrogen is a non-polar
molecule with a relatively tiny size. When compared to carbon dioxide,
intermolecular interactions are smaller.

CONCULUSION
We attempted to comprehend the relationship between a gas's pressure, temperature, and
volume in this experiment. We tested the pressures of air and nitrogen gas at various
quantities to better understand the relationship between pressure and volume.  In a closed
system, we discovered that when the volume of a gas drops, its pressure increases. We
calculated the moles of nitrogen gas in the syringe using the ideal gas equation. Then, using
the van der Waals equation, we calculated the pressure values and compared them to our
experimental results. The difference being small, we realized that nitrogen does not behave
very far from the ideal gas behavior in the gas and pressure ranges we examined. To
understand the relationship between pressure and temperature, we measured the pressure
values by increasing the temperature at a constant volume. According to the results, there is a
direct mathematical relationship between pressure and temperature. We discussed that
nitrogen and oxygen behaves similarly to each other in experimental ranges although
nitrogen is more ideal. Experimental results and pressure calculations were parallel to each
other. Other important result is that real gasses does not achieve absolute zero point in gas
form. There were some experimental errors, but most of them are due to the conditions. The
experimental ranges were narrow which caused a wrong absolute zero assumption. Since we
cant collect data in the low temperatures we cant do much about this issue. Another error was
the procedures with N2 . sensor had a 0.8 mL of air when we did the nitrogen experiments.
This is not a big issue since air is 78% nitrogen but still created some deviations in the
experimental data.

REFRENCES
1. The Ideal Gas Law. (2020, August 16). https://chem.libretexts.org/@go/page/1522
2. Real Gases - Deviations from Ideal Behavior. (2021, June 18).
https://chem.libretexts.org/@go/page/21767
3. Real and Ideal Gases. (2021, July 2). https://chem.libretexts.org/@go/page/53831
4. Van der Waals’ Equation. (2021, June 14). Oklahoma School of Science
Mathematics. https://chem.libretexts.org/@go/page/151663

5. Vedantu,(2020, December 8). Ideal Gas Law and absolute zero. VEDANTU.
Retrieved October 17, 2021, from https://www.vedantu.com/physics/ideal-gas-law-
and-absolute-zero.
6. Academy, K. (n.d.). Non-ideal behavior of gases (article). Khan Academy. Retrieved
October 17, 2021, from https://www.khanacademy.org/science/chemistry/gases-and-
kinetic-molecular-theory/non-ideal-gas-behavior/a/non-ideal-behavior-of-gases.