What does the ideal gas law mean?

1 Answer
Apr 11, 2018

The ideal gas law is an equation for hypothetical gases that compares pressure, volume, amount (moles) and temperature. PV=nRT

Explanation:

P : Pressure of the gas pushing against the container. Usually expressed in terms of atm or torr
V : Volume of gas present. Gases assume the volume of their container and therefore, the volume of the gas is equivalent to the volume of its container
n : moles of gas, the amount of representative molecules in the gas
T : Temperature is the average kinetic energy of the molecules expressed in Kelvin only
R : a constant that defines the relationship between the variables listed above.

All these variables are defined in this equation that relates each of them together by combining Charles, Boyle's and Avogadro's Law. However, there is only an ideal equation for gases (this is only hypothetical) because the kinetic molecular theory states that gas particles act independently of each other and does not interact with other molecules with intermolecular forces, unlike solids and liquids.