Ch 8: AP Chemistry: Gases
About This Chapter
AP Chemistry: Gases - Chapter Summary and Learning Objectives
Solids and liquids have defined volumes that we can use in chemical calculations, but gases are a little more tricky. In this chapter, our instructors will explain how gases act in the world and the laws scientists have discovered about their behavior. You'll learn about pressure, volume, temperature, and density and how they are related to one another. After learning several important equations, you'll learn to calculate properties of gases both in ideal and non-ideal environments. After completing this chapter, you should be able to:
- Define the interrelationships of pressure, volume, and temperature for gases
- Use the ideal gas law and the van der Waals equations to calculate unknowns
- Explain how a gas behaves in a given environment
- Predict the effect that a change in pressure or temperature will have on volume
Video | Objective |
---|---|
The Kinetic Molecular Theory: Properties of Gases | Understand how the motion of particles creates different physical properties in gases. |
Pressure: Definition, Units, and Conversions | Learn what pressure means in relation to gases and the different units that indicate pressure. |
Temperature Units: Converting Between Kelvins and Celsius | Explore two ways to measure thermal energy and how to convert between them. |
Density of Gas | Examine what density means and how we can measure the ratio of mass to volume of gases. |
Dalton's Law of Partial Pressures: Calculating Partial and Total Pressures | Take a look at this law that explains the relationship between mixtures of gases and individual gases. |
The Boltzmann Distribution: Temperature and Kinetic Energy Of Gases | Understand how gas particles move around and interact with each other via this probability distribution. |
Diffusion and Effusion: Graham's Law | Learn how particles move through space according to the parameters of their environment. |
Molar Volume: Using Avogadro's Law to Calculate the Quantity or Volume of a Gas | Explore the use of moles in calculating particle numbers or gas volume. |
Boyle's Law: Gas Pressure and Volume Relationship | Examine the inversely proportional relationship between pressure and volume of gases at a standard temperature. |
Charles' Law: Gas Volume and Temperature Relationship | Take a look at how gases tend to expand when heated and what this law states. |
Gay-Lussac's Law: Gas Pressure and Temperature Relationship | Understand what happens to volume when gases react together to form other gases. |
The Ideal Gas Law and the Gas Constant | Learn this equation that describes the relationship of a gas's pressure, volume, amount, and temperature. |
Using the Ideal Gas Law: Calculate Pressure, Volume, Temperature, or Quantity of a Gas | Explore how to use the ideal gas law to calculate unknowns from what you do know about a gas. |
Real Gases: Deviation from the Ideal Gas Laws | Examine what happens to a gas under non-ideal conditions. |
Van Der Waals Equation | Take a look at how the van der Waals equation adjusts the ideal gas equation to take non-ideal conditions into account. |

1. The Kinetic Molecular Theory: Properties of Gases
What makes a gas ideal? What types of characteristics do ideal gases have? In this lesson, we will discuss the many characteristics of gases and how knowing the microscopic properties of gas particles will help you understand the macroscopic properties of a gas.

2. Pressure: Definition, Units, and Conversions
Have you ever wondered what pressure is and how it gets measured? In this lesson, we are going to define pressure and explain some of the units that are used to express measurements of pressure.

3. Temperature Units: Converting Between Kelvin and Celsius
Have you ever wondered what the lowest possible temperature is? In this lesson, you will learn what temperature measures. You will also be introduced to the Kelvin scale (an absolute scale) and learn how it relates to the Celsius scale.

4. How to Find the Density of a Gas
The density of gas is more complicated than solids because gases are highly affected by temperature and pressure. This lesson will lead you through two equations to calculate the density of a gas.

5. Dalton's Law of Partial Pressures: Calculating Partial & Total Pressures
In this lesson, you will learn how gases behave when they are mixed together and how to use Dalton's law of partial pressures to calculate partial and total pressures of gases. You will also learn how to use this information to explain how to find the partial pressure of a gas collected over water.

6. The Boltzmann Distribution: Temperature and Kinetic Energy of Gases
Gas particles are always moving around at random speeds and in random directions. This makes it difficult to determine what any one particle is doing at a given time. Luckily, the Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution provides some help with this.

7. Diffusion and Effusion: Graham's Law
Have you ever been in a room where someone has put on perfume or scented lotion and a few minutes later you are able to smell it? What causes you to be able to smell something from so far away? In this lesson, we are going to use the kinetic molecular theory of gases to explain some of their behaviors and determine how we can compare the speeds of different gases.

8. Molar Volume: Using Avogadro's Law to Calculate the Quantity or Volume of a Gas
Have you ever wondered why a balloon expands when you blow it up? How something as light as air is able to exert a force large enough to inflate a balloon? In this lesson, you will learn about the relationship between the volume of a container filled with a gas and the number of gas particles that container holds. This relationship is known as Avogadro's Law.

9. Boyle's Law: Gas Pressure and Volume Relationship
Have you ever wondered how an air powered water gun works? It uses the fantastic properties of gases to make a summer day more enjoyable! In this lesson, we will be discussing Boyle's Law and the relationship between pressure and volume of a gas.

10. Charles' Law: Gas Volume and Temperature Relationship
In this lesson, we will discover why the wind blows and what causes a hot air balloon to rise, a couple of the applications of Charles' Law that explain the relationship between the volume and temperature of a gas.

11. Gay-Lussac's Law: Gas Pressure and Temperature Relationship
You may know that you aren't supposed to put an aerosol can in a fire because it could explode, but do you know why? In this lesson, we will explain Gay-Lussac's law, which shows the relationship between the temperature and pressure of a gas.

12. The Ideal Gas Law and the Gas Constant
Have you ever wondered why the pressure in your car's tires is higher after you have been driving a while? In this lesson, we are going to discuss the law that governs ideal gases and is used to predict the behavior of real gases: the ideal gas law.

13. Using the Ideal Gas Law: Calculate Pressure, Volume, Temperature, or Quantity of a Gas
In another lesson, you learned that the ideal gas law is expressed as PV = nRT. In this video lesson, we'll go one step further, examining how to rearrange the equation to solve for a missing variable when the others are known.

14. Real Gases: Deviation From the Ideal Gas Laws
The ideal gas law is used to describe the behavior of ideal gases, but sometimes the conditions are such that gases behave differently. When this is the case we can use the van der Waals equation to describe the behavior of real gases under these non-ideal conditions.

15. Real Gases: Using the Van der Waals Equation
To understand real gas behavior we use the van der Waals equation. This allows us to account for the volume and attractive forces of gas molecules. In this video lesson you'll see this put into action, and understand how it is different from the ideal gas law.
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Other Chapters
Other chapters within the AP Chemistry: Exam Prep course
- AP Chemistry: Experimental Laboratory Chemistry
- AP Chemistry: Properties of Matter
- AP Chemistry: Atomic Structure
- AP Chemistry: The Periodic Table of Elements
- AP Chemistry: Nuclear Chemistry
- AP Chemistry: Bonding
- AP Chemistry: Phase Changes for Liquids and Solids
- AP Chemistry: Solutions
- AP Chemistry: Stoichiometry and Chemical Equations
- AP Chemistry: Equilibrium
- AP Chemistry: Kinetics
- AP Chemistry: Thermodynamics
- Portions of the AP Chemistry Exam
- AP Chemistry Flashcards