Gas Laws Study Guide

Be sure you know the following vocabulary/equations/values:

Absolute zero
Universal gas constant
Boyles Law
Charless Law
Avogadros Law

combined gas law

Daltons Law of partial pressures
molar volume of a gas at STP
STP (standard temperature & pressure)

Pressure:
Pressure is the force acting on the surface area of an object. According to kinetic molecular
theory (KMT), the pressure of a gas increases because of the increased frequency with which the
molecules collide with the inner wall of the gas container. This may be a result of increased kinetic
energy (KE) by heating the gas, or by decreasing the volume of the container.
Remember:
1 atm = 760 mm Hg = 760 torr = 101325 Pa
You will need to be able to solve problems using the above equalities similar to the following:
The pressure valve on a scuba tank reads 23 kPa (23000 Pa). What is this pressure in mm Hg?
Boyles Law:
P1V1 = P2V2
At constant temperature and numbers of moles, the pressure of a gas is inversely related to its
volume.
You will need to be able to solve problems using Boyles Law similar to the following:
A bicycle tire has a pressure of 2.6 atm and a volume of 250 mL. If the pressure is increased to 4.0
atm, what will the new volume of the tire be?
Charless Law:

At constant pressure and number of moles, the volume of a gas is directly proportional to the
temperature.
You will need to be able to solve problems using Charless Law similar to the following:
A container of aerosol spray has a volume of 0.24 L at 298 K. If the container is tossed into a fire
burning at 1300 K, what is the new volume of the gas at that temperature?
Avogadros Law:

At constant pressure and temperature, equivalent volumes of gases have the same number of
molecules (or moles of molecules).
You will need to be able to solve problems using Avogadros Law similar to the following:
A balloon contains 3.5 x 1012 moles of helium gas. If the balloon has a volume of 1.5 L, how
many moles will be required to expand the balloon to 4.0 L?

Combined Gas Law:

When the number of moles of a gas is constant, then three gas laws can be combined so that the
quotient of the initial and final parameters are equal.
You will need to be able to solve problems using the Combined Gas Law similar to the following:
The volume of a bag of chips at sea level is 0.75 L at 298 K and 1 atm. At the bottom of the
deepest part of the ocean, the pressure is 1000 atm with a temperature of 1.1 C, what volume
would this bag of chips occupy at the bottom of the ocean?
Ideal Gas Law:
PV = nRT

where

The ideal gas law relates the pressure, volume temperature (in Kelvin) and number of moles of a
gas together in a single equation through the usage of the universal gas constant.
Remember that the Idea Gas Law does not work under two situations:
1) Very high pressures
2) Very low temperatures
We can assume that all gases behave ideally in this class.
You will need to be able to solve problems using the Ideal Gas Law similar to the following:
How many moles of Xe produce 2.5 atm of pressure in a 4.5 L container at 300 K?
Daltons Law of Partial Pressures:
Ptotal = P1 + P2 + P3
The total pressure in a container of a mixture of gases is equal to the sum of the individual
pressures of each gas.
Grahams Law of Diffusion:
where m is the molar mass of a gas and R is the rate of diffusion
The rate of diffusion of a gas is inversely proportional to the square root of the molar mass of that
gas