Gas Laws
Gas Laws
2: The Gas
Laws
Pressure
• Pressure is the result of a force
distributed over an area.
• Collisions between particles of a gas and
the walls of the container cause the
pressure in a closed container of gas.
• The SI unit for pressure, the pascal (Pa),
is shorthand for newtons per square
meter.
Factors that Affect Gas
Pressure:
Temperature
Volume
Number of particles
Temperature
• Raising the temperature of a gas will increase
its pressure if the volume of the gas and the
number of particles are constant.
• As the temperature rises, the average kinetic energy
of the particles in the air increases.
• With increased kinetic energy, the particles move
faster and collide more often with the inner walls of
the tires.
• Faster-moving particles hit the walls with greater
force.
• More collisions and increased force cause the
pressure of the air in the tires to rise.
Volume
• Reducing the volume of a gas increases its
pressure if the temperature of the gas and the
number of particles are constant.
–Twist the cap onto a plastic bottle and then
squeeze it. What happens?
• The volume of the plastic bottle begins to
decrease.
• As the volume decreases, the particles of trapped
air collide more often with the walls of the bottle.
• The pressure in the bottle increases.
Number of Particles
• Increasing the number of particles
will increase the pressure of a gas if
the temperature and the volume are
constant.
• The more particles there are in the
same volume, the greater the
number of collisions and the greater
the pressure.
Charles’ Law
• French physicist Jacques Charles collected
data on the relationship between the
temperature and volume of gases.
• The graph of the data showed a direct
relationship between the volume of a gas and
the temperature of the gas.
Charles’ Law
•Charles extended the graph
beyond the measured data to
find the temperature that
would produce a volume of
0 L.
•The temperature at the point
where the line crossed the x-
axis was –273.15°C.
•This temperature is equal to 0
K on the Kelvin temperature
scale.
•A temperature of 0 K is called
absolute zero.
Charles’ Law
Charles’s law states that the volume of a gas is
directly proportional to its temperature in kelvins if
the pressure and the number of particles of the gas
are constant.