Scientists and Their Discoveries:

The Ideal Gas Law Poster

Illustrated Teacher's Guide
#35-1170 Paper
#35-1171 Laminated

Background

Gas Law Basics

Matter most frequently takes the form of a solid, liquid, or gas. We are all familiar with balloons at birthday parties
or at other events. Sometimes we fill balloons with our breath or with helium from a cylinder. How does our
breath or added helium fill the balloon?

What happens if the balloon is warmed or

cooled? What causes a balloon to burst if too
much gas is added? Over the years many sci-
entists have contributed to the development
of our modern explanation for the behavior of
gases. They conducted many experiments and
analyzed their data to identify trends and to
determine the relationships among pressure,
volume, temperature, and number of parti-
cles. These results are commonly called the
Gas Laws and they are generally named in
honor of the scientist who first discovered
them. The gas laws allow scientists to predict
the behavior of a gas under most conditions.

Figure 1. Balloon being inflated with hot air

Avogadro’s Law
Amedeo Avogadro was an Italian scientist and mathematician who lived from
1776 to 1856. He measured the mass of the volume of many different gases.
He hypothesized that equal volumes of different gases at the same tempera-
ture and pressure contain the same number of particles. He then related the
relative densities of any two gases to the molecular weights (molar masses)
of the gases. This hypothesis is called Avogadro’s Law or Avogadro's
Principle. Avogadro’s insights led to the development of the mole concept
in chemistry.

Figure 2. Amedeo Avogadro

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Boyle’s Law
Sir Robert Boyle was an Irish scientist who lived from 1627 to 1691. He con-
tributed to our modern understanding of physics and chemistry. Boyle was a
founding member of the Royal Society of London, where he and his col-
leagues laid the foundation for what would become known as the Scientific
Method. Boyle worked with gases and used air pumps to create vacuums.
He discovered that at constant temperature, the volume of a sample of gas
is indirectly (inversely) proportional to its pressure. This relationship is
known as Boyle’s Law. It is written as P1V1 = P2V2.

Figure 3. Sir Robert Boyle

Charles’ Law
Jacques Charles was a French chemist and physicist, who lived from 1746 to
1823. In 1787, nearly a century after Robert Boyle’s work, Jacques Charles stud-
ied the behavior of gases under different conditions. He discovered that the
volume of a sample of gas at constant pressure was directly proportional to
its temperature in the Kelvin scale. This relationship is called Charles’ Law. It
is written as V1/T1 = V2/T2.

Figure 4. Jacques Charles

Dalton’s Law of Partial Pressures

John Dalton was a British chemist, physicist, and teacher who lived from1768 to
1828. Dalton is one of the fathers of modern atomic theory. He discovered that
each gas in a mixture of gases exerts a pressure (called the partial pressure)
independent of the other gases. The total pressure of a mixture of gases is
equal to the sum of the partial pressure of each gas. The composition of dry
air is about 77% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, 1% argon, 0.4% carbon dioxide and
traces of other gases. A pressure gauge on an air compressor filled with dry
air would indicate the total pressure exerted by each gas in the mixture. This
concept is known as Dalton’s Law of Partial Pressures or simply as Dalton’s
Law. It is written as PT = P1 + P2 + P3 + ...Pn for n number of gases.

Figure 5. John Dalton

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Ideal Gas Law
The Ideal Gas Law is mainly derived from Avogadro’s, Boyle’s, Charles’, and Dalton’s Laws. The Ideal Gas Law is writ-
ten as the equation: PV = nRT, where P is the pressure of the gas, V is the volume of the gas, n is the number of
moles of particles in the gas sample, T is the Kelvin temperature of the gas and R is the Ideal Gas Constant. A
commonly used value for R is 0.821 L atm / mol K or 0.0821 liter atmospheres per mole Kelvin.

Ideal Gas Law

PV = nRT
Ideal Gas Law Conclusions
Four key conclusions can be drawn from the Ideal Gas Law:

1) At constant volume and temperature of a gas, pressure increases as more gas particles are added (and vice
versa) as shown in Figure 6.
2) At constant temperature and pressure, the volume increases as more gas particles are added (and vice versa)
as shown in Figure 7.
3) For a sample of gas having a constant number of particles and volume, the pressure increases as the tempera-
ture increases (and vice versa) as shown in Figure 8.
4) For a sample of gas having a constant number of particles and temperature, the pressure decreases as volume
increases (and vice versa) as shown in Figure 9.

More gas molecules

added

Pressure increases

Constant
Temperature

More gas
molecules Constant
Temperature &
Pressure

Figure 6. Pressure varies with Figure 7. Volume varies with

# particles # particles

Temperature Pressure
increases increases

Volume Pressure
decreases increases

Figure 8. Pressure directly varies with temperature Figure 9. Pressure varies inversely with volume

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 Worksheet # 1 – Identifying Gas Laws
Label diagrams #1 – 4 shown below with the name of the gas law illustrated.

1.____________________________ 2.____________________________
____________________________ ____________________________

3.____________________________ 4.____________________________
____________________________ ____________________________

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 Worksheet # 2 – Summarizing Gas Laws
1. Summarize Avogadro’s Law and identify the conditions that are held constant.

2. Describe Boyle’s Law and express it in the form of an equation. Be certain to specify what conditions are held
constant.

3. Describe Charles’ Law and express it in the form of an equation. Be certain to specify what conditions are held
constant.

4. Describe Dalton’s Law and express it in the form of an equation. Be certain to specify what conditions are held
constant.

5. List the equation for the Ideal Gas Law and describe it in your own words.

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 Worksheet # 1 – Identifying Gas Laws
(Expected Results)

Label diagrams #1 – 4 shown below with the name of the gas law illustrated.

1. Avogadro’s Law 2. Charles’ Law

3. Boyle’s Law 4. Dalton’s Law

(of Partial Pressures)

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 Worksheet # 2 – Summarizing Gas Laws
(Expected Results)

1. Summarize Avogadro’s Law and identify what conditions are held constant.
At the same (constant) temperature and pressure conditions, equal volumes of different gases contain the
same number of particles.

2. Describe Boyle’s Law and express it in the form of an equation. Be certain to specify what conditions are held
constant.
For a sample of gas at constant temperature (and number of particles), the volume is inversely proportion-
al to its pressure.
P1V1 = P2V2.

3. Describe Charles’ Law and express it in the form of an equation. Be certain to specify what conditions are held
constant.
For a sample of gas at constant pressure (and number of particles), the volume is directly proportional to
its Kelvin temperature.
V1/T1 =V2/T2

4. Describe Dalton’s Law and express it in the form of an equation. Be certain to specify what conditions are held
constant.
The total pressure of a mixture of gases is equal to the sum of the partial pressures of each gas. The num-
ber of particles of each gas in the mixture is constant.
PT = P1 + P2 + P3 +... Pn

5. List the equation for the Ideal Gas Law and describe it in your own words.
PV=nRT
Answers may vary. The product of the pressure and volume of a sample of gas is equal to the product of
the number of moles of gas times the gas constant and the Kelvin temperature of the gas.