Question

Why is it necessary for temperatures to be converted to Kelvin, rather than being represented in Celcius when completing gas law equations?

Answer 1

Well, because one of the earliest gas laws established that volume was proportional to temperature....

Explanation:

i.e. `VpropT`...or `V=kT`

Now this was an experimental gas law (proposed contemporaneously by Charles, Dalton, and Gay Lusaac) and it proposed that as temperature decreased, the volume expressed by a given quantity of gas would decrease proportionally. And while real gases did CONDENSE at a low enuff temperature, gas behaviour was idealized, and this led to the proposal of an `"absolute zero"`, at which an `"ideal gas"` would have ZERO volume, and all molecular motion would cease.

And the value of `"absolute zero"` has been interpolated to be `-273.15` `""^@C`.

Alternative temperature scales, which put the freezing point of water at `0` `""^@C` or `32*F`, below which temperature many gases would still exist, thus have a negative component to the scale, and would imply a NEGATIVE volume....and I am still trying to figure that one out....