How is gas pressure changed?

1 Answer
Apr 27, 2018

Gas pressure is changed when a variable in the Ideal Gas Law equation is changed.

Explanation:

Any gas can be described with the Ideal Gas Law equation, #PV = nRT#, with #P# representing pressure, #V# representing volume, #n# representing the number of gaseous moles, #R# representing the ideal gas constant, and #T# representing temperature.

Since #P# is on the same side of the equation as #V#, the two variables are inversely related, and pressure will decrease as volume increases and vice versa.

Since #P# is on the opposite side of the equation as #n# and #T#, it is directly related to those variables, and pressure will increase as either the number of gaseous moles or temperature increases and decrease as those variables decrease.

(Note that #R# is a constant and cannot change)