GAS LAWS

The gas laws are a group of laws that govern the behavior of gases by providing relationships between the following:

 The volume occupied by the gas.  The absolute temperature of the gas.
 The pressure exerted by a gas on the walls of  The amount of gaseous substance (or) the
its container. number of moles of gas.
The gas laws were developed towards the end of the 18th century by numerous scientists (after whom the individual
laws are named). The five gas laws are listed below:

 Boyle’s Law: It provides a relationship between the pressure and the volume of a gas.
 Charles’s Law: It provides a relationship between the volume occupied by a gas and the absolute temperature.
 Gay-Lussac’s Law: It provides a relationship between the pressure exerted by a gas on the walls of its
container and the absolute temperature associated with the gas.
 Avogadro’s Law: It provides a relationship between the volume occupied by a gas and the amount of gaseous
substance.
 The Combined Gas Law (or the Ideal Gas Law): It can be obtained by combining the four laws listed above.

Under standard conditions, all gasses exhibit similar behavior. The variations in their behaviors arise when the
physical parameters associated with the gas, such as temperature, pressure, and volume, are altered. The gas laws
basically describe the behavior of gases and have been named after the scientists who discovered them.

Ideal Gas Properties and Characteristics

 The motion of ideal gas in a straight line is constant and random.

 The gas occupies a very small space because the particle in the gas is minimal.
 There is no force present between the particle of the gas. Particles only collide elastically with the walls of the
container and with each other.
 The average kinetic energy of the gas particle is directly proportional to the absolute temperature.
 The gases are made up of many of the same particles (atoms or molecules), which are perfectly hard spheres
and also very small.
 The actual volume of the gas molecule is considered negligible as compared to the space between them, and
because of this reason, they are considered as the point masses.

Avogadro's Law

In 1811, Amedeo Avogadro fixed Gay-Lussac's issue in finding the

Gas Law Formula Table correlation between the Amount of
gas(n) and Volume(V) (assuming Temperature(T) and Pressure(P)
remain constant):

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  Pressure is inversely proportional to Volume
 Volume(V) is directly proportional to the Amount of
gas(n)

A 17.50mL sample of gas is at 4.500 atm. What will be the volume

Example 1: A 3.80 g of oxygen gas in a pump has volume of 150 if the pressure becomes 1.500 atm, with a fixed amount of gas and
mL. constant temperature and pressure. If 1.20g of oxygen gas is temperature?
added into the pump. What will be the new volume of oxygen gas
in the pump if temperature and pressure held constant?

An 18.10mL sample of gas is at 3.500 atm. What will be the

volume if the pressure becomes 2.500 atm, with a fixed amount of
At constant temperature and pressure, 6.00 L of a gas is known to gas and temperature?
contain 0.975 mol. If the amount of gas is increased to 1.90 mol,
what new volume will result?

Boyle's Law Charles' Law

In 1662, Robert Boyle discovered the correlation between Pressure In 1787, French physicists Jacques Charles, discovered the
(P)and Volume (V) (assuming Temperature(T) and Amount of correlation
Gas(n) remain constant): between Temperature(T) and Volume(V) (assuming Pressure
(P) and Amount of Gas(n) remain constant):

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 And finally get the equation:

where P= the absolute pressure of ideal gas

 V= the volume of ideal gas

 n = the amount of gas
Another form of the equation (assuming there are 2 sets of  T = the absolute temperature
conditions, and setting both constants to eachother) that might help
 R = the gas constant
solve problems is:

Here, R is the called the gas constant. The value of R is determined

by experimental results. Its numerical value changes with units.
A sample of Carbon dioxide in a pump has volume of 20.5 mL and
it is at 40.0 oC. When the amount of gas and pressure remain R = gas constant = 8.3145 Joules · mol-1 · K-1 (SI Unit)
constant, find the new volume of Carbon dioxide in the pump if = 0.082057 L · atm·K-1 · mol-1
temperature is increased to 65.0 oC.

At 655mm Hg and 25.0oC, a sample of Chlorine gas has volume of

750mL. How many moles of Chlorine gas at this condition?

 P=655mm Hg
 T=25+273.15K
 V=750mL=0.75L
n=?

A sample of carbon dioxide in a pump has a volume of 21.5 mL,

and it is at 50.0 °C. When the amount of gas and pressure remain
constant, find the new volume of carbon dioxide in the pump if the
temperature is increased to 75.0 °C.

Evaluation of the Gas Constant, R

You can get the numerical value of gas constant, R, from the ideal
Ideal Gas Law gas equation, PV=nRT. At standard temperature and pressure,
where temperature is 0 oC, or 273.15 K, pressure is at 1 atm, and
The ideal gas law is the combination of the three simple gas laws. with a volume of 22.4140L,
By setting all three laws directly or inversely proportional to
Volume, you get: General Gas Equation

In an Ideal Gas situation, (assuming all

gases are "ideal" or perfect). In cases where or if
Next replacing the directly proportional to sign with a constant(R) there are multiple sets of conditions (Pressure(P), Volume(V),
you get: number of gas(n), and Temperature(T)), use the General Gas
Equation:

Assuming 2 set of conditions:

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Initial Case: Final Case: 2. If 1.25L of gas exists at 35oC with a constant pressure
of .70 atm in a cylindrical block and the volume were to
be multiplied by a factor of 3/5, what is the new
temperature of the gas? (Hint: Charles's Law)
Setting both sides to R (which is a constant with the same value in 3. A ballon with 4.00g of Helium gas has a volume of
each case), one gets: 500mL. When the temperature and pressure remain
constant. What will be the new volume of Helium in the
ballon if another 4.00g of Helium is added into the
ballon? (Hint: Avogadro's Law)
4. A sealed jar whose volume is exactly 1 L, which contains
If one substitutes one R for the other, one will get the final equation 1 mole of air at a temperature of 20 degrees Celcius,
and the General Gas Equation: assuming that the air behaves as an ideal gas. So, what is
the pressure inside the jar in Pa?

Standard Conditions

If in any of the laws, a variable is not give, assume that it is given.

For constant temperature, pressure and amount:

1. Absolute Zero (Kelvin): 0 K = -273.15 oC

T(K) = T(oC) + 273.15 (unit of the temperature must be Kelvin)

2. Pressure: 1 Atmosphere (760 mmHg)

3. Amount: 1 mol = 22.4 Liter of gas

4. In the Ideal Gas Law, the gas constant R = 8.3145 Joules · mol-1 ·
K-1
= 0.082057 L · atm·K-1 · mol-1

Summary

The volume of a gas is inversely proportional to its pressure and

directly proportional to its temperature and the amount of gas.
Boyle showed that the volume of a sample of a gas is inversely
proportional to its pressure (Boyle’s law), Charles and Gay-Lussac
demonstrated that the volume of a gas is directly proportional to its
temperature (in kelvins) at constant pressure (Charles’s law), and
Avogadro postulated that the volume of a gas is directly
proportional to the number of moles of gas present (Avogadro’s
law). Plots of the volume of gases versus temperature extrapolate
to zero volume at −273.15°C, which is absolute zero (0 K), the
lowest temperature possible. Charles’s law implies that
the volume of a gas is directly proportional to its absolute
temperature.

Practice Problems
1. If 4L of H2 gas at 1.43 atm is at standard temperature,
and the pressure were to increase by a factor of 2/3, what
is the final volume of the H2 gas? (Hint: Boyle's Law)

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DALTON’S LAW OF PARTIAL PRESSURE pressure. The partial pressure of a gas can be calculated using the
ideal gas law, which we will cover in the next section, as well as
 The pressure exerted by an individual gas in a mixture is using Dalton's law of partial pressures.
known as its partial pressure.

 Assuming we have a mixture of ideal gases, we can use

the ideal gas law to solve problems involving gases in a Example 1: Calculating the partial pressure of a gas

mixture.
Let's say we have a mixture of hydrogen gas, H2 (g), and oxygen
 Dalton's law of partial pressures states that the total gas, O2 (g). The mixture contains 6.7 mol hydrogen gas and 3.3
pressure of a mixture of gases is equal to the sum of the mol oxygen gas. The mixture is in a 300 L container at 273 K, and
partial pressures of the component gases: the total pressure of the gas mixture is 0.75 atm.

The contribution of hydrogen gas to the total pressure is its partial

pressure. Since the gas molecules in an ideal gas behave
 Dalton's law can also be expressed using the mole
independently of other gases in the mixture, the partial pressure of
fraction of a gas, x. hydrogen is the same pressure as if there were no other gases in the
container. Therefore, if we want to know the partial pressure of
hydrogen gas in the mixture, PH2, we can completely ignore the
In day-to-day life, we measure gas pressure when we use a oxygen gas and use the ideal gas law:
barometer to check the atmospheric pressure outside or a tire gauge
to measure the pressure in a bike tube. When we do this, we are
measuring a macroscopic physical property of a large number of
Rearranging the ideal gas equation to solve for P we get:
gas molecules that are invisible to the naked eye. On the molecular
level, the pressure we are measuring comes from the force of
individual gas molecules colliding with other objects, such as the
Thus, the ideal gas law tells us that the partial pressure of hydrogen
walls of their container.
in the mixture is 0.50 atm. We can also calculate the partial

Let's take a closer look at pressure from a molecular perspective pressure of hydrogen in this problem using Dalton's law of partial

and learn how Dalton's Law helps us calculate total and partial pressures, which will be discussed in the next section.

pressures for mixtures of gases.

Ideal gases and partial pressure Dalton's law of partial pressures

In this article, we will be assuming the gases in our mixtures can be Dalton's law of partial pressures states that the total pressure of a
approximated as ideal gases. This assumption is generally
reasonable as long as the temperature of the gas is not super low mixture of gases is the sum of the partial pressures of its

(close to \[0\,\text K\]), and the pressure is around 1 atm. components:

This means we are making some assumptions about our gas
molecules:

 We assume that the gas molecules take up no volume.

where the partial pressure of each gas is the pressure that the gas

 We assume that the molecules have no intermolecular would exert if it was the only gas in the container. That is because
attractions, which means they act independently of other
we assume there are no attractive forces between the gases.
gas molecules.

Based on these assumptions, we can calculate the contribution of

different gases in a mixture to the total pressure. We refer to the
pressure exerted by a specific gas in a mixture as its partial

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 Since we know P, V and T for each of the gases before they're

combined, we can find the number of moles of nitrogen gas and

oxygen gas using the ideal gas law:

Dalton's law of partial pressure can also be expressed in terms of

the mole fraction of a gas in the mixture. The mole fraction of a gas Solving for nitrogen and oxygen, we get:

is the number of moles of that gas divided by the total moles of gas
in the mixture, and it is often abbreviated as x:

Dalton's law can be rearranged to give the partial pressure of gas 1

in a mixture in terms of the mole fraction of gas 1:

Both forms of Dalton's law are extremely useful in solving

Step 2 (method 1): Calculate partial pressures and use Dalton's
different kinds of problems including: law to get

Once we know the number of moles for each gas in our mixture,
 Calculating the partial pressure of a gas when you know
we can now use the ideal gas law to find the partial pressure of
the mole ratio and total pressure
each component in the 10.0 L container:
 Calculating moles of an individual gas if you know the

partial pressure and total pressure

 Calculating the total pressure if you know the partial

pressures of the components

Example 2: Calculating partial pressures and total pressure

Let's say that we have one container with 24.0 L of nitrogen gas

at 2.00 atm, and another container with 12.0L of oxygen gas at 2.00

atm. The temperature of both gases is 273 K.

Notice that the partial pressure for each of the gases increased

If both gases are mixed in a 10.0 L container, what are the compared to the pressure of the gas in the original container. This

partial pressures of nitrogen and oxygen in the resulting makes sense since the volume of both gases decreased, and

mixture? What is the total pressure? pressure is inversely proportional to volume.

Step 1: Calculate moles of oxygen and nitrogen gas

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We can now get the total pressure of the mixture by adding the pressure, it might be better to use the second method to save a

partial pressures together using Dalton's Law: couple calculation steps.

Summary

 The pressure exerted by an individual gas in a mixture is

known as its partial pressure.

Step 2 (method 2): Use ideal gas law to calculate without  Assuming we have a mixture of ideal gases, we can use
partial pressures
the ideal gas law to solve problems involving gases in a
Since the pressure of an ideal gas mixture only depends on the
mixture.
number of gas molecules in the container (and not the identity of
 Dalton's law of partial pressures states that the total
the gas molecules), we can use the total moles of gas to calculate
pressure of a mixture of gases is equal to the sum of the
the total pressure using the ideal gas law:
partial pressures of the component gases:

 Dalton's law can also be expressed using the mole

fraction of a gas, x:

PROBLEMS
1. A sample of gas A evaporates over water in a closed
system. What is the pressure of gas A if the total pressure
is 780 torr and water vapor pressure is 1 atm?
2. There is a mixture of 4 moles of hydrogen gas, 8 moles
of oxygen, 12 moles of helium, and 6 moles of nitrogen
Once we know the total pressure, we can use the mole fraction in a closed container. What is the total number of moles
in this system?
version of Dalton's law to calculate the partial pressures: 3. If there is a mixture of hydrogen and oxygen gas in a
container with 10 moles total and the mole ratio of
hydrogen is .67 molHydrogen to 1 moltotal, how many moles
of each gas are there?
4. 24.0 L of nitrogen gas at 2 atm and 12.0 L of oxygen gas
at 2 atm are added to a 10 L container at 273 K. Find the
partial pressure of nitrogen and oxygen and then find the
total pressure.
5. Flourine gas is in a 5.0 L container that is 25 C and 2
atm. A certain amount of hydrogen with a partial
pressure of .5 is added to the container. What is the mole
ratio of hydrogen?
Luckily, both methods give the same answers!

You might be wondering when you might want to use each method.
Solutions
It mostly depends on which one you prefer, and partly on what you

are solving for. For instance, if all you need to know is the total 1:

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  Convert pressure to same units so 780  total pressure is 2 atmFlourine+.5
torr=1.03 atm atmHydrogen=2.5 atmtotal
 Subtract water vapor pressure from  remember that pH/ptot=nH/ntot=vh/vtot so
total pressure to get partial pressure of the mole ratio of hydrogen to the
gas A: PA=1.03 atm- 1 atm=0.03 atm mixture is is .5/2.5=.2 molHydrogen to 1
moltotal
2. The law of partial pressures also applies to
the total number of moles if the other values
are constant, so

4 mol Hydrogen+8 mol Oxygen+12 mol

Helium+6 mol Nitrogen=30 moles total

3.

 10 moltotal x .67 molHydrogen/ 1 moltotal= 6.7

moles H2 gas
 10 moltotal-6.7 molHydrogen=3.3 moles O
gas

4.

 Find the number of moles of oxygen

and nitrogen using PV=nRT which is
n=PV/RT
1. oxygen: ((1
atm)(12L))/(0.08206 atm L mol-
1
K-1)(273 K)=0.536 moles
oxygen
2. nitrogen: ((1
atm)(24.0L))/(.08206 atm L
mol-1 K-1)(273 K)=1.07 moles of
Nitrogen
3. add to get ntot: .536
molOxygen+1.07 molNitrogen=1.61
moles total
 Use PV=nRT or P=(nRT)/V to find the
total pressure
1. Ptot=((1.61 moltotal)(0.08206
atm L mol-1 K-1)(273 K))/(10.0
L)=3.61 atm
 PA/Ptot=nA/Ntot can be rearranged to
PA=(Ptot)(nA/Ntot) to find the partial
pressures
1. Poxygen=(3.61 atmtotal)(.536
molOxygen/1.61 moltotal)=1.20
atmOxygen
2. Pnitrogen=3.61 atmtotal-1.20
atmOxygen=2.41 atmNitrogen

5.
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