UNIVERSITY OF CAPE COAST
COLLEGE OF DISTANCE EDUCATION (CoDE)
ADENTA STUDY CENTRE ( WEST AFRICA SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL)
NAME OF COURSE: Basic General Chemistry
COURSE CODE: CHE 107D/ CHE 101D
NAME OF LECTURER/TUTOR: __________________________________________
NAME OF STUDENT: INDEX NUMBER:
___________________________________________________________________________
TOPIC
SESSION 2: BASIC GAS LAWS
Objective
By the end of session 2, student would be able to:
(a) explain Boyle's Law and solve simple problems on them;
(b) explain Charles''s Law and solve simple problems on them
Created in the early 17th century, the gas laws have been around to assist scientists in finding volumes,
amount, pressures and temperature when coming to matters of gas. The gas laws consist of three
primary laws: Charles' Law, Boyle's Law and Avogadro's Law (all of which will later combine into the
General Gas Equation and Ideal Gas Law) The gas laws are all based on the properties of gases laid down
in kinetic theory. In order to further understand of kinetic theory, let us review some of its applications.
Boyle's Law
Boyle's law states that for a given amount of gas at a constant temperature, the volume of the gas varies
inversely with its pressure.
In 1662, Robert Boyle discovered the correlation between Pressure (P) and Volume (V) (assuming
Temperature (T) and Amount of Gas (n)remain constant):
Pα1V /→PV/=x
Where x is a constant depending on amount of gas at a given temperature.
• Pressure is inversely proportional to Volume
Therefore, as seen, as Volume increases, Pressure decreases
Thus, when one value increases the other decreases, as long as temperature and number of moles
remain constant. Boyle's law is summarized by the equation
PV=k
where P is the pressure of the molecules on the container, V is the volume of the
container, and k is a constant. The value of k always stays the same so that P and V vary
appropriately. For example, if pressure increases, k must remains constant and thus
volume will decrease. This is consistent with the predictions of Boyle's law.
Consider the box full of moving gas molecules (Figure6. 1). The particles have the same energy
(temperature) throughout. As the box gets smaller, they have a smaller distance to travel before they
collide with the walls, and thus the time between collisions gets increasingly smaller. In a given amount
of time the partials hit the walls more, which results in a greater amount of pressure. The amount of
moles is clearly constant, as we are not adding or subtracting particles from the box. Another way of
looking at this is that as the pressure increases, it drives the particles together. Thesee compacted
particles now occupy less volume. In order to compare a gas where either pressure or volume vary, we
can combine the equations P1V1=k and P2V2 = k because k is constant for both values of pressure and
volume. P 1V 1 = P 2V 2
This equation for Boyle's law is helpful when solving problems.
Charles' Law
In 1787, French physicists Jacques Charles, discovered the correlation between Pressure (P) and Volume
(V) (assuming Temperature (T) and Amount of Gas (n)remain constant):
VαT→V=yT
Where y is a constant depending on amount of gas and pressure. Volume is directly proportional to
Temperature.
V1T1=y=V2T2
Charles' law states that the volume of a fixed amount of a gas at constant pressure is directly
proportional to its Kelvin temperature. The equation for Charles' law is
V/T=k
Where Vis the volume of the container, T is the temperature of the system in Kelvin, and k is the
constant. For changes in volume and temperature, k remains the same.
According to Charles' law, gases will expand when heated. The temperature of a gas is really a measure
of the average kinetic energy of the particles. As the kinetic energy increases, the particles will move
faster and want to make more collisions with the container. But remember that in order for the law to
apply, the pressure must remain constant. The only way to do this is by increasing the volume. This idea
is illustrated by the comparing the particles in the small and large boxes.
