Chapter 10

Gases

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 Chapter 10

Gases

Key Points:
10.2 A Particulate Model for Gases
10.3 Pressure
10.4 The Simple Gas Law
10.5 The Ideal Gas Law
10.6 Applications of the Ideal Gas Law
10.7 Mixture of Gases and Partial Pressure
10.8 Temperature and Molecular Velocities
10.9 Mean Free Path, Diffusion, and Effusion of Gases
10.10 Gases in Chemical Reactions
10.11 Real Gases
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 What Is a Gas?
• Gases are
– a phase of matter.
– composed of particles that are
moving randomly and very fast in
their container(s).

• Gas particles move in straight lines

until they collide with either the
container wall or another particle;
then they bounce off.

• A gaseous atom or molecule exerts

a force when it collides with
– a surface.
– other gaseous particles.
• Molecular collisions are pressure.

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 What Is Gas Pressure?
• Pressure is the force exerted per unit area by gas molecules as they
strike the surfaces around them.
force F
Pressure = =
area A
• Gas pressure is a result of the
constant movement of the gas
molecules and their collisions with
the surfaces around them.
• The pressure of a gas depends on
several factors:
– Number of gas particles in a given
volume
– Volume of the container
– Average speed of the gas particles

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 10.1 Gas Pressure and the Kinetic Theory of Gases
• According to the Kinetic Theory of Gases:
– Collisions of gas particles with each other and/or surfaces are said
to be elastic—no exchange of energy occurs.
– If an exchange of energy between particles and/or surfaces were
to happen, then the collisions would be referred to as inelastic.

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 Factors Upon Which Gas Pressure is
Dependent
• Concentration of gas molecules
– The higher the concentration, the greater
the pressure.
• Number of gas particles in a given
volume
– The fewer the gas particles, the lower the
force per unit area and the lower the
pressure.

– As volume increases, concentration of gas

molecules decreases (number of molecules
does not change, but since the volume
increases, the concentration goes down).
• This, in turn, results in fewer molecular
collisions, which results in lower pressure.

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 10.3 Pressure
• Atmospheric pressure-The
number of gas particles in a
given volume decreases with
increasing altitude.
– Hence, pressure decreases
with increasing altitude.

• If there is a difference in
pressure across the eardrum
membrane, the membrane will
be pushed out.
– The result is what we
commonly call a “popped
eardrum.”

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 Basic Properties of Gases
• There are four basic properties of a gas:
– Pressure (P)
• Units in atmosphere (atm)
– Volume (V)
• Units in liters (L)
– Temperature (T)
• Units in Kelvin (K)
– Where Kelvin (K) = Celsius T + 273
– Amount in moles (n)

• These properties are interrelated, meaning when one

changes, it affects the others.
• The simple gas laws describe the relationships between
pairs of these properties.
– Investigate two properties and keep the other two properties
constant.
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 10.4 The Simple Gas Laws
The simple gas laws are as follows:
– Boyle’s Law
• Investigates pressure and volume relationship

– Charles’s Law
• Investigates volume and temperature relationship

– Avogadro’s Law
• Investigates volume and amount (mole) relationship

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 Boyle’s Law: Volume and Pressure
• Robert Boyle (1627–1691) and Robert Hooke used a J-tube to
measure the volume of a sample of gas at different pressures.
• They trapped a sample of air in the J-tube and added mercury to
increase the pressure on the gas.
– They observed an inverse relationship between volume and
pressure.
• Hence, an increase in one causes a decrease in the other.

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 Boyle’s Law
• Boyle’s law states that the
volume of a gas is
inversely proportional to
the pressure.

• Graphing Boyle’s Law

– A graph of P versus V
results in a curve.
– A graph of P versus 1/V
results in a straight-line
plot.

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 Boyle’s Law - Practice
As you breathe, you inhale by increasing your lung volume. A woman has an initial
lung volume of 2.75 L, which is filled with air at an atmospheric pressure of 1.02 atm. If
she increases her lung volume to 3.25 L without inhaling any additional air, what is the
pressure in her lungs?

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 Charles’s Law: Volume and Temperature
• The volume of a fixed amount of gas at a constant
pressure increases linearly with increasing temperature
in kelvins.
– Volume and temperature have a direct relationship
• If the volume of a gas increases with increasing temperature

• V = constant × T (T measured in kelvins)

• V/T = constant

• (V1/T1) = (V2/T2)

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 Charles’s Law: A Molecular View
• When the temperature of a gas sample increases, the gas particles
move faster.
– Collisions with the walls are more frequent.
– The force exerted with each collision is greater.
• The only way for the pressure (the force per unit area) to remain
constant is for the gas to occupy a larger volume so that collisions
become less frequent and occur over a larger area.
• If a filled balloon is moved from an ice water bath to a boiling water bath,
its volume expands as the gas particles within the balloon move faster
(due to the increased temperature) and collectively occupy more space.

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 Charles’s Law- Practice
A sample of gas has a volume of 2.80 L at an unknown temperature. When you
submerge in ice water at T = 0.00˚C, its volume decreases to 2.57 L what was its
initial temperature (in K and in ˚C)?

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 Avogadro’s Law: Volume and Moles Have a
Direct Relationship
• Volume is directly proportional
to the number of gas molecules
when pressure and temperature
are held constant.
– More gas molecules = larger
volume

• Equal volumes of gases contain

equal numbers of molecules.
– The gas doesn't matter.

• V = constant × n (moles)
The volume of a gas
• V/n = constant
sample increases linearly
• (V1/n1) = (V2/n2) with the number of moles
of gas in the sample.
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 10.5 Ideal Gas Law: PV = nRT
• The simple gas law relationships discussed so far can be
combined into a single law that encompasses all of them.
V  (1/P) Boyle’s Law
VT Charles’s Law
Vn Avogadro’s Law
• Ideal gas law: PV = nRT
– Where
• P is pressure in atm
• V is volume in liters
• n is moles
• R is the ideal gas law constant,
0.0821
• T is temperature in kelvins

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 Ideal Gas Law: PV = nRT

· The other gas laws are found in the ideal gas law if two variables are
kept constant.
· The ideal gas law allows us to find one of the variables if we know the
other three.
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 Ideal Gas Law – Practice Problem
Calculate the volume occupied by 0.845 mol of nitrogen gas at a pressure of 1.37 atm and
a temperature of 315 K.

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 Standard Conditions
• Because the volume of a gas varies with pressure and temperature,
chemists have agreed on a set of conditions with which to report our
measurements so that comparison is easy.
– These are called standard conditions (STP).

• Standard pressure = 1 atm

• Standard temperature = 273 K = 0 °C
• Standard amount = 1 mol
• Standard volume = 22.4 L
– The volume occupied by one mole of a substance is its molar volume at
STP (T = 273 K or 0 °C and P = 1atm).

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 10.6 Molar Volume at STP

• The volume of one mole of gas at

STP is called the molar volume.
6.022 × 1023 molecules of gas
– Note that the type of gas is
immaterial.

• It is important to recognize that 1-

mol measures of different gases
have different masses, even though
they have the same volume.
• Which of the balloons is the
heaviest?

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 Density of a Gas
• Density is the ratio of mass to volume.
– Density = (mass/volume)

• Density of a gas is generally given in grams/liter (g/L).

• The mass of 1 mol = molar mass.

• The volume of 1 mol at STP = 22.4 L.

Density (d) =

Density (g/L) =

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 10.7 Mixtures of Gases and Partial Pressures
• Many gas samples are not pure but
are mixtures of gases.
• Dry air, for example, is a mixture
containing nitrogen, oxygen, argon,
carbon dioxide, and a few other
gases in trace amounts.
• In certain applications, the mixture
can be thought of as one gas.
– Even though air is a mixture, its
pressure, volume, and temperature
can be treated as being one
substance.
– By knowing air’s pressure, volume,
and temperature, the total moles of
molecules in an air sample can be
determined—even though they are
different compounds.

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 Partial Pressure: Pgas
• The pressure of a single gas in a mixture of gases is called its
partial pressure.

• The partial pressure of a gas can be calculated in either of the

following cases.
– A fraction of the mixture it composes and the total pressure
are known.
– The number of moles of the gas in a container of a given volume
and temperature is known.

• The sum of the partial pressures of all the gases in the

mixture equals the total pressure. This is known as Dalton’s
law of partial pressures.
Ptotal = Pa + Pb + Pc + …

• Gases behave independently.

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 Partial Pressure- Practice
A 1.00 L mixture of helium, neon, and argon has a total pressure of 662 mmHg at 298 K. If the partial
pressure of helium is 341 mmHg and the partial pressure of neon is 112 mmHg, what mass of argon
is present in the mixture?

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 Kinetic Molecular Theory (KMT)

• The simplest model for the behavior

of gases is the kinetic molecular
theory.

• In this theory, a gas is modeled as a

collection of particles (either
molecules or atoms, depending on
the gas) in constant motion.

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 Kinetic Molecular Theory Postulates
1. Gases are composed of many particles that behave
like hard, spherical objects in a state of constant,
random motion.
2. The particles move in a straight line until they collide
with another particle or the walls of the container.
3. The particles are much smaller than the distance
between particles. Most of the volume of a gas is
therefore empty space – occupy no volume
4. There are no force of attraction between gas
particles or between the particles and the walls of the
container.
5. Collisions between gas particles or collisions with
the walls of the container are perfectly elastic. None of
the energy of a gas particle is lost when it collides with
another particle or with the walls of the container.
6. The average kinetic energy of a collection of gas
particles depends on the temperature of the gas and
nothing else

These are assumptions that we make to keep the calculations simple, but these assumptions do not match most
real-world scenarios
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 Kinetic Molecular Theory and the Ideal
Gas Law
• The kinetic molecular theory is a quantitative model that
implies PV = nRT.
• The pressure on a wall of a container occupied by particles
in constant motion is the total force on the wall (due to the
collisions) divided by the area of the wall: P = Ftotal /A.

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 Molecular Speed versus Molar Mass
• To have the same average kinetic energy, heavier
molecules must have a slower average speed.

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 10.9 Mean Free Path

• Molecules in a gas travel in

straight lines until they
collide with another
molecule or the container.

• The average distance a

molecule travels between
collisions is called the mean

free path.

• Mean free path decreases

as the pressure increases.

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 Diffusion and Effusion
• The process of a collection of molecules spreading out from high concentration
to low concentration is called diffusion.
• The process by which a collection of molecules escapes through a small hole
into a vacuum is called effusion.

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 10.10 Gases in Chemical Reaction:
Stoichiometry Revisited
• In reactions involving gaseous reactants or products, the
quantity of a gas is often specified in terms of its volume
at a given temperature and pressure.
– As noted earlier, stoichiometry involves relationships
between amounts in moles.
– For stoichiometric calculations involving gases, we can
use the ideal gas law to determine the amounts in moles
from the volumes, or to determine the volumes from the
amounts in moles.

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 Reactions Involving Gases
• When gases are at STP, use 1 mol = 22.4 L.

• The pressures here could also be partial pressures.

• The general conceptual plan for these kinds of calculations

is as follows:

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 Practice Problem: Gases in Chemical
Reactions
Methanol (CH3OH) can be synthesized by the reaction:

CO(g) + 2 H2(g) CH3OH(g)

What volume (in L) of hydrogen gas, at a temperature of 355 K and a pressure of 738 mmHg, do we need to
synthesize 35.7 g of methanol?

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 10.11 Real Gases
• Real gases often do not behave like ideal gases at high pressure
or low temperature.
• Ideal gas laws assume
– no attractions between gas molecules.
– gas molecules do not take up space.
• Based on the kinetic molecular theory
• At low temperatures and high pressures, these assumptions are
not valid.

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 PV/RT Plots: Real versus Ideal

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 The Effect of Intermolecular Forces
• Van der Waals modified
the ideal gas equation to
account for the
intermolecular
attractions.
– a is another van der
Waals constant and is
different for every gas
because the molecules
of each gas have
different strengths of
attraction.

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 Van der Waals Equation

Developed to better approximate gas behavior than

the ideal gas law:

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