Concentration and gas pressure
Let's look at the relationship between concentration and pressure of a gas.
[INSERT GE_CI_01_ima]
The ideal gas equation is:
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:
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:
But n/V is the concentration of the gas in mol dm–3.
So we can write where [gas] is the concentration of the gas.
So at constant temperature the pressure of a gas is proportional to its concentration: