Boyle's
law describes the relationship between pressure and volume when
temperature is fixed; Charles' law relates volume and temperature
when the pressure is constant. We can combine these two laws into
the ideal gas law-ideal because it is obeyed strictly by
no real gases, but is followed more and more closely as the pressure
decreases and temperature increases. For n moles of an ideal
gas
PV =
nRT
The gas constant, R, is a fixed quantity, independent of
pressure,
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volume,
temperature, or amount of gas.
If pressure is measured in atmospheres, volume in liters, and temperature
in degrees Kelvin, then R has the numerical value
R = 0.0821
liter deg
The ideal gas law is much more powerful than either Boyle's or Charles'
laws alone. We now can calculate how many moles of hydrogen gas
there were in the weather-balloon example, assuming a temperature
of 25 .
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