Concentration and gas pressure

Let's look at the relationship between concentration and pressure of a gas.

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The ideal gas equation is: \inline pV= nRT

where p is the pressure, V the volume, n the number of moles of gas, T is the absolute temperature and R is the gas constant. Pressure can be measured in atmospheres or Pascals (1 atm = 101,325 Pa).

We can rearrange the ideal gas equation as follows:

\inline \dpi{100} R = \frac{pV}{nT}

If p is measured in atmospheres, V in dm–3 and T in kelvin, what are the units of the gas constant R?

atm dm–3 K–1 mol–1

If p is measured in Pa, V in m3 and T in kelvin, what are the units of R?

Pa m–3 mol–1 K–1

Because Pa m3 = J, how might the units of R be written?

J mol–1 K–1

The equation can be rearranged as follows:

\inline p= \frac{n}{VRT}

But n/V is the concentration of the gas in mol dm–3.

So we can write \inline p= [\textup{gas}]RT where [gas] is the concentration of the gas.

So at constant temperature the pressure of a gas is proportional to its concentration:

 \inline \dpi{100} p \alpha [\textup{gas}]

 
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