The ideal gas law is a fundamental equation that describes the behavior of an ideal gas by relating its pressure, volume, temperature, and the number of moles. It combines Boyle’s, Charles’s, and Avogadro’s laws into a single relationship.
The law is stated as: PV=nRT
Where:
- P = pressure of the gas
- V = volume of the gas
- n = number of moles of gas
- R = universal gas constant (8.314 J/mol·K or 0.0821 L·atm/mol·K)
- T = temperature in Kelvin
Key points:
- It assumes the gas behaves ideally, meaning the gas particles have negligible volume and no intermolecular forces.
- It can be used to calculate any one of the four variables (P, V, n, T) if the others are known.
- Real gases approximate this law under high temperature and low pressure, where deviations from ideal behavior are minimal.