Gas Laws

For “ideal” gases

 Boyle’s Law
For a fixed mass of gas at a fixed
temperature, the product of pressure and
volume is a constant

p x V = constant
 105 Nm-2
Pressure

Volume of Gas

0.1m3

PV = 10-4Nm
Pressure 2 x 105Nm-2

Volume m3

Volume =0.05m3

PV= 104Nm
P = 3x105Nm-2

V=0.033m3

PV = 104Nm
P= 4x105Nm-2

V= .025m3

PV= 104 Nm
Volume of the gas
m3

Pressure of the
gas Nm-2
Volume of the gas

Pressure of
the gas
Volume of the gas m3 Volume of the gas m3

Pressure of the gas Nm-2

1/Pressure of the gas m2N-1

P1/V
 Verifying Boyle’s Law

Fixed mass of air

Scale gives
volume of
trapped air Bourdon
Guage

valve
Air from
footpump
 Experimental detail
1. The gas under investigation is trapped above the oil in
a glass tube. This ensures a fixed mass of gas.
2. The volume V of air is read directly from the scale. The
pressure is recorded on the bourdon guage.
3. It is compressed using a footpump to increase the
pressure above the oil in the reservoir. The pressure(p)
is increased in equal stages alowing pairs of values of
p and V to be measured.
4. Compressing the air warms it slightly so it is given time
to cool, indicated by a steady volume reading between
each reading.
5. A graph of V against 1/p is drawn which is a straight
line through the origin.
 Two other gas laws
Charles’ Law

For a fixed mass of

gas at constant
pressure, the volume
is directly proportional
V T
to the Kelvin
temperature.
 Capiliary tube of
uniform cross section

Mercury bead
thermometer

Fixed mass of
gas

As the water is heated the volume of the trapped gas increases at constant
pressue. It is found that VT
 The pressure law
• For a fixed mass of gas at a fixed volume,
the pressure is directly proportional to the
temperature measured in kelvins.

PV
 When the line is extrapolated back to the x axis, it meets it at just about
-273 C. This led to the idea of an absolute zero of temperature..

Remember in
calculations in
thermal physics Volume m3
always use
Kelvins for
temperature

Of course no real gas could

get to this temperature as it
would change state before it
did!

-273 Temperature/C
At constant T pV = a constant or 1
p
V
At constant p V/T= a constant or VT

At constant v p/T= a constant or pT

 Combining the 3 laws
The three laws can be combined to give a rule for a fixed mass of gas

Fixed mass Same mas of gas

of gas

P1 P2

V1 V2
p1V1 p2V2

T1 T2

T1 T2
 Question
A gas which can be considered ideal has a
volume of 100cm3 at 2.00Pa and 27C.
What is its volume at 5.00Pa and 60 C

p1= 2.00 x 105 Pa

P2= 5.00 x 105Pa
V1= 100cm2
V2= V2
T1= 300K
T2= 333K
 Ideal Gases
• No gas obeys the gas laws exactly. They
provide a fairly accurate description of the
way the real gases work. This is because
in real gases there are often forces
between molecules.
• To overcome this difficulty the idea of an
ideal (perfect) gas was introduced.
 Assumptions For Ideal Gases
1. Intermolecular forces are negligible except during
collisions.
2. The volume of the molecules themselves can be
neglected compared with the volume occupied by the
gas.
3. The time for any collision is negligible compared with
the time spent between collisions.
4. Between collisions molecules move with uniform
velocity.
These conditions imply that all of the internal energy of the
gas is kinetic.
 The ideal gas equation
The combination of the gas laws tell us that pV
Is a constant for a fixed mass of gas.
T
Ie that pV
k
T
In fact k is found to be equal to the product of two previously know
values k= n x R.
n is the number of moles of gas present in the fixed mass of gas.
R is called the universal molar gas constant (= 8.31JK-1mol-1)

pV  nRT
 pV  nRT
P is the pressure in Nm-2
V is the volume m3
n is the number of moles of gas present
T is the temperature of the gas in K
 A word about moles
• A mole of gas is the quantity of gas which
contains 6 x 1023 molecules:
Hydrogen gas H2 2g
Oxygen gas O2 32g
Nitrogen gas N2 28g
You do not need to know these values and
will be told something like…. 0.2 moles of
gas….. etc
 Ideal gases
• an ideal gas obeys PV=nRT exactly. No such
real gas exists.
• The internal energy on an ideal gas is entirely
kinetic and depends only on its temperature. (ie.
There are no forces acting at a distance
between molecules in the gas)
• The behaviour of real gases approximates
PV=nRT at low pressures and temperatures well
above the point at which they liquefy