GAS LAWS

and Partial
Pressure
01 IDEAL GAS LAW

CONTENTS
TABLE OF
02 BOYLE’S LAW

03 CHARLES’ LAW

04 GAY-LUSSAC’S LAW

05 AVOGADRO’S LAW

06 DALTON’S LAW
 IDEAL GAS LAW
The term ideal gas refers to a hypothetical gas composed of molecules which follow a few
rules:
1. Ideal gas molecules do not attract or repel each other. The only interaction between
ideal gas molecules would be an elastic collision upon impact with each other or an
elastic collision with the walls of the container.

2. Ideal gas molecules themselves take up no volume. The gas takes up volume since the
molecules expand into a large region of space, but the Ideal gas molecules are
approximated as point particles that have no volume in and of themselves.

There are no gases that are exactly ideal, but there are plenty of gases that are close
enough that the concept of an ideal gas is an extremely useful approximation for many
situations. In fact, for temperatures near room temperature and pressures near atmospheric
pressure, many of the gases we care about are very nearly ideal.
If the pressure of the gas is too large (e.g. hundreds of times larger than atmospheric
pressure), or the temperature is too low (e.g. −200°𝐶) there can be significant deviations
from the ideal gas law.
 PV=nRT
Where P is the pressure of the gas, V is the volume taken up by
the gas, T is the temperature of the gas, R is the gas constant,
and n is the number of moles of the gas.

Units to use for 𝑷𝑽 = 𝒏𝑹𝑻

𝑅 = 8.31
𝐽
𝑅 = 0.082
𝐿 ⋅ 𝑎𝑡𝑚 MOLAR FORM
𝐾 ⋅ 𝑚𝑜𝑙 𝐾 ⋅ 𝑚𝑜𝑙
Pressure in atmospheres
Pressure in pascals Pa
atm
Volume in 𝑚3 Volume in liters L

Temperature in kelvin K Temperature in kelvin K

 𝑷𝑽 = 𝑵𝒌𝒃 𝑻
Where P is the pressure of the gas, V is the volume taken up by
the gas, T is the temperature of the gas, N is the number of
molecules in the gas, and 𝑘𝑏 is Boltzmann's constant.

Units to use for 𝑷𝑽 = 𝑵𝒌𝒃 𝑻 MOLECULAR

𝑘𝑏 = 1.38 × 10−23
𝐽
𝐾
FORM
Pressure in pascals Pa

Volume in 𝑚3

Temperature in kelvin K
 𝑷𝟏 𝑽𝟏 𝑷𝟐 𝑽𝟐
=
𝑻𝟏 𝑻𝟐
If the number of moles n (i.e. molecules N) of the gas doesn't
change, then the quantity nR, and 𝑁𝑘𝑏 are constant for a gas. This
happens frequently since the gas under consideration is often in a
sealed container. So, if we move the pressure, volume and
temperature onto the same side of the ideal gas law we get,
𝑃𝑉
𝑛𝑅 = 𝑁𝑘𝑏 = 𝑇 = 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑡 PROPORTIONAL
This shows that, as long as the number of moles (i.e. molecules) of
𝑃𝑉
a gas remains teh same, the quantity 𝑇 is constant for a gas FORM
regardless of the process through which the gas is taken. In other
words, if a gas starts in state 1 (with some value of pressure of 𝑃1 ,
volume 𝑉1, and temperature 𝑇1) and is altered to a state 2 (with 𝑃2 ,
volume 𝑉2 , and temperature 𝑇2), then regardless of the details of
the preocess we know the following relationship holds.
𝑃1 𝑉1 𝑃2 𝑉2
=
𝑇1 𝑇2
 The Pressure-Volume Law
BOYLE’S LAW:
Boyle's law or the pressure-volume law states that the volume
of a given amount of gas held at constant temperature varies
inversely with the applied pressure when the temperature and
mass are constant.
1
𝑉∝
𝑃
Another way to describing it is saying that their products are
constant.
𝑃𝑉 = 𝐶
When pressure goes up, volume goes down. When volume
Robert Boyle (1627-1691) goes up, pressure goes down. From the equation above, this
can be derived:
𝑃1 𝑉1 = 𝑃2 𝑉2 = 𝑃3 𝑉3 …
This equation states that the product of the initial volume and
pressure is equal to the product of the volume and pressure
after a change in one of them under constant temperature.
 Law
The Temperature-Volume
CHARLES’ LAW:
This law states that the volume of a given amount of gas held
at constant pressure is directly proportional to the Kelvin
temperature.
𝑉∝𝑇
A constant can be put in:
𝑉
=𝐶
𝑇
Jacques Charles (1746-1823) As the volume goes up, the temperature also goes up, and
vice-versa. Initial and final volumes and temperatures under
constant pressure can be calculated.
𝑉1 𝑉2 𝑉3
= = …
𝑇1 𝑇2 𝑇3
 Law
The Pressure Temperature
GAY-LUSSAC’S LAW:
This law states that the pressure of a given amount of gas held
at constant volume is directly proportional to the Kelvin
temperature.
P∝ 𝑇
A constant can be put in:
𝑃
=𝐶
𝑇
Joseph Gay-Lussac With an increase in temperature, the pressure will go up. Initial
(1778-1850) and final pressures and temperatures under constant volume
can be calculated.
𝑃1 𝑃2 𝑃3
= = …
𝑇1 𝑇2 𝑇3
 The Volume Amount Law
AVOGADRO’S LAW:
Gives the relationship between volume and amount when pressure
and temperature are held constant. Remember amount is measured
in moles. Also, since volume is one of the variables, that means the
container holding the gas is flexible in some way and can expand or
contract.

If the amount of gas in a container is increased, the volume

increases. If the amount of gas in a container is decreased, the
volume decreases.
V∝ 𝑛
Amedeo Avogadro A constant can be put in:
(1776-1856) 𝑉
=𝐶
𝑛
This means that the volume-amount fraction will always be the same
value if the pressure and temperature remain constant.
𝑉1 𝑉2 𝑉3
= = …
𝑛1 𝑛2 𝑛3
 PARTIAL PRESSURES
DALTON’S LAW OF
Dalton's law of partial pressures Dalton's law of partial pressure can Dalton's law can be rearranged
states that the total pressure of a also be expressed in terms of the to give the partial pressure of
mixture of gases is the sum of mole fraction of a gas in the gas 1 in a mixture in terms of the
the partial pressures of its mixture. The mole fraction of a gas mole fraction of gas 1:
components: is the number of moles of that gas 𝑃𝑔𝑎𝑠 1 = 𝑥1 𝑃𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙
𝑃𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 = 𝑃𝑔𝑎𝑠 1 + 𝑃𝑔𝑎𝑠 2 + 𝑃𝑔𝑎𝑠 3 divided by the total moles of gas in
the mixture, and it is often
where the partial pressure of abbreviated as x:
each gas is the pressure that the 𝑥1 = 𝑚𝑜𝑙𝑒 𝑓𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝑔𝑎𝑠 1
gas would exert if it was the only 𝑚𝑜𝑙𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑔𝑎𝑠 1
=
gas in the container. That is 𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑚𝑜𝑙𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑔𝑎𝑠
because we assume there are no John Dalton
attractive forces between the (1766-1844)
gases.
 EQUATIONS
SUMMARY OF
IDEAL GAS
LAW BOYLE’S LAW CHARLES’ LAW
𝑃𝑉 = 𝑛𝑅𝑇 𝑃1 𝑉1 = 𝑃2 𝑉2 = 𝑃3 𝑉3 … 𝑉1 𝑉2 𝑉3
𝑃𝑉 = 𝑁𝑘𝑏 𝑇 = = …
𝑇1 𝑇2 𝑇3
𝑃1 𝑉1 𝑃2 𝑉2
=
𝑇1 𝑇2

GAY-LUSSAC’S AVOGADRO’S DALTON’S

LAW LAW LAW
𝑃1 𝑃2 𝑃3 𝑉1 𝑉2 𝑉3 𝑃𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 = 𝑃𝑔𝑎𝑠 1 + 𝑃𝑔𝑎𝑠 2 + 𝑃𝑔𝑎𝑠 3
= = … = = …
𝑇1 𝑇2 𝑇3 𝑛1 𝑛2 𝑛3 𝑥1 = 𝑚𝑜𝑙𝑒 𝑓𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝑔𝑎𝑠 1
𝑚𝑜𝑙𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑔𝑎𝑠 1
=
𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑚𝑜𝑙𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑔𝑎𝑠
𝑃𝑔𝑎𝑠 1 = 𝑥1 𝑃𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙