Ideal Gas Law Molecular Weight
Physics uses simplification to arrive at quick, moderately accurate answers for problems. Small friction sources and tiny masses may be discounted. In textbooks students are introduced to massless strings and frictionless pulleys. For chemists, there is no single equation that conveys the behavior of every gas. Still, the basic properties gases do share in common are combined to produce the simplistic equation of state. We will use this equation to determine the ideal gas law molecular weight. Deriving the Ideal Gas Law When we compress a gas, its volume shrinks. That is, the pressure is proportional to the inverse of the volume. P ∝ 1/V This has been known for hundreds of years as Boyle’s Law. In addition, as temperature increases, gas volume increases (think hot-air balloon). T ∝ V…