14.

2 The Ideal Gas Law

An ideal gas is an idealized model for real gases that have sufficiently low densities.

The Ideal Gas Law

An ideal gas is an idealized model for real gases that have sufficiently low densities. The condition of low density means that the molecules of the gas are so far apart that they do not interact (except during collisions that are effectively elastic).

The Ideal Gas Law

An ideal gas is an idealized model for real gases that have sufficiently low densities. The condition of low density means that the molecules of the gas are so far apart that they do not interact (except during collisions that are effectively elastic).

The ideal gas law expresses the relationship between the absolute pressure (P), the Kelvin temperature (T), the volume (V), and the number of moles (n) of the gas.

PV nRT
Where R is the universal gas constant. R = 8.31 J/(mol K).

The Ideal Gas Law

The constant term R/NA is referred to as Boltzmann's constant, in honor of the Austrian physicist Ludwig Boltzmann (18441906), and is represented by the symbol k:

PV = NkT

14.3 Kinetic Theory of Gases

Kinetic Theory of Gases

The pressure that a gas exerts is caused by the impact of its molecules on the walls of the container.

Kinetic Theory of Gases

The pressure that a gas exerts is caused by the impact of its molecules on the walls of the container. It can be shown that the average translational kinetic energy of a molecule of an ideal gas is given by,

where k is Boltzmann's constant and T is the Kelvin temperature.

Derivation of,

Consider a gas molecule colliding elastically with the right wall of the container and rebounding from it.

The force on the molecule is obtained using Newtons second law as follows,

P , t

The force on one of the molecule,

According to Newton's law of actionreaction, the force on the wall is equal in magnitude to this value, but oppositely directed.

The force exerted on the wall by one molecule,

mv 2 L

If N is the total number of molecules, since these particles move randomly in three dimensions, one-third of them on the average strike the right wall. Therefore, the total force is:

Vrms = root-mean-square velocity.

Pressure is force per unit area, so the pressure P acting on a wall of area L2 is

Pressure is force per unit area, so the pressure P acting on a wall of area L2 is

Since the volume of the box is V = L3, the equation above can be written as,

PV = NkT

The Internal Energy of a Monatomic Ideal Gas