ideal gas law

The equation that characterizes any amount of a gas is

$\displaystyle pV = nRT
$

where $ p$ is the pressure, $ V$ the volume, $ n$ the number of the gas moles and $ T$ the absolute temperature of the gas; $ R$ the universal gas constant (approximately 8.314472 $ \frac{\mbox{Pa}\cdot\mbox{m}^3}{\mbox{mol}\cdot\mbox{K}}$ ).

The gas law is accurately valid for an ideal gas, but a good approximation for real gases.

The law contains the following gas laws:

Alternative definition

The ideal gas law can also be defined using Boltzmann's constant:

$\displaystyle pV = NkT
$

The symbols are those defined above, with the difference that $ N$ is the number of gas molecules, and $ k$ is the Boltzmann constant, $ k \approx 1.38 \times 10^{-23}$   JK$ ^{-1}$ . This form is often preferred by physicists who consider the number of molecules to be more fundamental than the number of moles.



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