9: Gases
In this chapter, we examine the relationships between gas temperature, pressure, amount, and volume. We will study a simple theoretical model and use it to analyze the experimental behavior of gases. The results of these analyses will show us the limitations of the theory and how to improve on it.
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- 9.1: Gas Pressure
- Gases exert pressure, which is force per unit area. The pressure of a gas may be expressed in the SI unit of pascal or kilopascal, as well as in many other units including torr, atmosphere, and bar. Atmospheric pressure is measured using a barometer; other gas pressures can be measured using one of several types of manometers.
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- 9.2: Relating Pressure, Volume, Amount, and Temperature - The Ideal Gas Law
- The behavior of gases can be described by several laws based on experimental observations of their properties. including Amontons’s law, Charles’s law, Boyle’s lawand Avogadro’s law. These laws can be extracted directly from the ideal gas law.
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- 9.3: Stoichiometry of Gaseous Substances, Mixtures, and Reactions
- The ideal gas law can be used to derive a number of convenient equations relating directly measured quantities to properties of interest for gaseous substances and mixtures. Appropriate rearrangement of the ideal gas equation may be made to permit the calculation of gas densities and molar masses. Dalton’s law of partial pressures may be used to relate measured gas pressures for gaseous mixtures to their compositions.
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- 9.4: Effusion and Diffusion of Gases
- Gaseous atoms and molecules move freely and randomly through space. Diffusion is the process whereby gaseous atoms and molecules are transferred from regions of relatively high concentration to regions of relatively low concentration. Effusion is a similar process with gaseous species passing from a container to vacuum through a small orifices. The rates of effusion of gases are inversely proportional to the square roots of their densities or to the square roots of their atoms/molecules’ masses.
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- 9.5: The Kinetic-Molecular Theory
- The kinetic molecular theory is a simple but very effective model that effectively explains ideal gas behavior. The theory assumes that gases consist of widely separated molecules of negligible volume that are in constant motion, colliding elastically with one another and the walls of their container with average velocities determined by their absolute temperatures. The individual molecules of a gas exhibit a range of velocities.
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- 9.6: Non-Ideal Gas Behavior
- Gas molecules possess a finite volume and experience forces of attraction for one another. Consequently, gas behavior is not necessarily described well by the ideal gas law. Under conditions of low pressure and high temperature, these factors are negligible, the ideal gas equation is an accurate description of gas behavior, and the gas is said to exhibit ideal behavior. The van der Waals equation is a modified version of the ideal gas law that can be used to account for the non-ideal behavior.
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- 9.10: Exercises
- These are homework exercises to accompany the Textmap created for "Chemistry" by OpenStax. Complementary General Chemistry question banks can be found for other Textmaps and can be accessed here. In addition to these publicly available questions, access to private problems bank for use in exams and homework is available to faculty only on an individual basis; please contact Delmar Larsen for an account with access permission.
Thumbnail: As long as black-body radiation (not shown) doesn't escape a system, atoms in thermal agitation undergo essentially elastic collisions. On average, two atoms rebound from each other with the same kinetic energy as before a collision. Five atoms are colored red so their paths of motion are easier to see. (Public Domain; Greg L via Wikipedia )