Labs / Chemistry
Ideal Gas Law
Every dot is a gas molecule flying in a straight line until it slams into a wall — and every slam is a nudge of pressure. Drag the piston to squeeze the gas, crank up the temperature, or pour in more molecules, and watch the readouts keep P, V, T, and n locked into PV = nRT.
P 101 kPaV 2.00 LT 300 Kn 60PV 202
What to try
- Drag the piston to halve the volume at a fixed temperature. What happens to the pressure — and why does the PV number barely budge? (That's Boyle's law.)
- Heat the gas without touching the piston. Do the molecules just move faster, or do they also hit harder and more often?
- Watch the amber (fast) molecules mingle with the slow ones. Where does that spread of speeds come from if they all started the same?
- Double the number of molecules. Is the pressure change proportional, and does the average speed (temperature) stay put?
- Cool the gas toward 100 K while keeping the volume fixed. How low would the pressure go if you could keep chilling it?