Properties of Gases

This chapter reviews the gas laws beginning with a historical perspective of how they were discovered and the early inventions that enabled their study. Boyle’s law, Charles’ law, and Gay-Lussac’s law are explained in detail with respect to the kinetic-molecular theory of gases. The absolute temperature scale and absolute zero are defined. The combined gas law and Avogadro’s law are discussed and the ideal gas law is introduced as a direct means of relating all four variables (temperature, pressure, volume, and amount) controlling the behavior of a gas. Comparisons between ideal and real gases are determined by comparing results of the ideal gas equation with the van der Waals equation. Dalton’s law of partial pressures is presented to explain the problems with collecting a gas over water. The molar volume at STP is used to determine the amount of gaseous products obtained from a chemical reaction at STP.