Larry Brown

Tom Holme

www.cengage.com/chemistry/brown

Chapter 5
Gases

Jacqueline Bennett • SUNY Oneonta

Chapter Objectives
• Describe the physical properties of gases.

• Identify several gaseous compounds or classes of

compounds that are important in urban air pollution.

• Use the ideal gas law for calculating changes in the conditions
of gases.

• Use the concept of partial pressure to work with mixtures of

gases.

2
Chapter Objectives
• Perform stoichiometric calculations for reactions involving
gases as reactants or products.

• State the postulates of the kinetic theory of gases.

• Describe qualitatively how the postulates of the kinetic theory

account for the observed behavior of gases.

• Describe the Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution of speeds and

the effects of temperature and molar mass on molecular
speed.

3
Chapter Objectives
• Identify conditions under which gases might not behave
ideally.

• Use the van der Waals equation to perform calculations for

gases under nonideal conditions.

• Describe the principles of operation for some pressure-

measuring devices.

4
Air Pollution
• Clean air is a mixture of
several gases.

• Nitrogen and oxygen

are major components

• Water vapor (humidity)

varies with place, time,
and temperature.

• Dry air is a convenient

reference point

5
Air Pollution
• Six Principal Criteria Pollutants

• CO, NO2, O3, SO2, Pb, and Particulate Matter (PM)

• Commonly found throughout the country; cause a variety of negative

effects on health, environment, and/or property.

• EPA established criteria for acceptable levels:

• Primary standards intended to protect health.

• Nonattainment area: region that exceeds primary standards

• Secondary standards intended to protect environment and property.

• Allowable levels usually less than one part per million (ppm).

6
Air Pollution
• The criteria pollutant nitrogen dioxide, NO2, is emitted by
automobiles.

• High temperatures inside car engines cause oxygen

and nitrogen to react to produce a variety of nitrogen
oxides, designated with the generic formula NOx.

• Brown color of smog due to NO2; attacks lung

membranes

7
Air Pollution
• Photochemical reactions, reactions initiated by light
energy, can trigger formation of ozone, another criteria
pollutant, at ground level from:
• nitrogen oxides
• volatile organic compounds (VOCs): hydrocarbons
that readily evaporate

• Reactions between these two types of compounds produce a

mixture a gases collectively referred to as smog.
• Many components are lung irritants.
• Ozone is the most significant lung irritant.

8
Air Pollution

• Pollutant levels vary with time of day and location.

9
Properties of Gases
• Expand to fill the volume of any container.

• Have much lower densities than solids or liquids.

• Have highly variable densities, depending on conditions.

• Mix with one another readily and thoroughly.

• Change volume dramatically with changing temperature.

10
Properties of Gases
• The ideal gas law is the quantitative relationship between
pressure (P), volume (V), moles gas present (n), and the
absolute temperature (T).

• R is the universal gas constant.

• R = 0.08206 L atm mol-1 K-1: used in most gas equations
• R = 8.314 J mol-1 K-1 : used in equations involving energy

PV  nRT

11
Pressure
• Pressure is force per unit area. F
P
A
• Atmospheric pressure is the force attributed to the weight
of air molecules attracted to Earth by gravity.

• As altitude increases, atmospheric pressure decreases.

12
Pressure
• Pressure results from
molecular collisions
between gas molecules
and container walls.

• Each collision imparts

a small amount of
force.

• Summation of the
forces of all molecular
collisions produces the
macroscopic property
of pressure.
13
Measuring Pressure
• A barometer is used to measure
atmospheric pressure.

• The height of the mercury

column is proportional to
atmospheric pressure.

• Units of Pressure

• 1 torr = 1 mm Hg
• 1 atm = 760 torr (exactly)
• 1 atm = 101,325 Pa (exactly)
• 760 torr = 101,325 Pa (exactly)

14
History and Application of the Gas Law

• Gases change significantly when the conditions in which they

are found are altered.

• These changes are determined empirically using gas laws.

• Charles’s Law: relationship between T and V

• Boyle’s Law: relationship between P and V
• Avogadro’s Law: relationship between n and V

• The empirical gas laws led to the ideal gas law

15
Charles’s Law
• Jacques Charles studied relationship between volume and
temperature.

• Plots of V versus T for different gas samples converged to

the same temperature at zero volume.
• Basis of the Kelvin temperature scale.

16
Charles’s Law
• For fixed pressure and fixed number of moles of gas, the
volume and the absolute temperature of a gas are directly
proportional.
V T
• All of the fixed variables can be factored out of the ideal gas
law as a new constant that can be used to relate two sets of
conditions:
V1 nR V2
  constant 
T1 P T2

17
Boyle’s Law
• Pressure and volume are inversely proportional.

1
V
P

• All of the fixed variables can be factored out as a new

constant that can be used to relate two sets of conditions:

P1V1  nRT  constant  P2V2

18
Avogadro’s Law
• Avogadro’s Law states that for fixed pressure and
temperature, the volume and moles of a gas are directly
proportional.

V n

V1 RT V2
  constant 
n1 P n2

19
Example Problem 5.1
• A common laboratory cylinder of methane has a volume of
49.0 L and is filled to a pressure of 154 atm. Suppose that all
of the CH4 from this cylinder is released and expands until its
pressure falls to 1.00 atm. What volume would the CH4
occupy?

20
Example Problem 5.2
• A balloon is filled with helium and its volume is 2.2 L at 298 K.
The balloon is then dunked into a thermos bottle containing
liquid nitrogen. When the helium in the balloon has cooled to
the temperature of the liquid nitrogen (77 K), what will the
volume of the balloon be?

21
Units and the Ideal Gas Law
• Temperature must be expressed in Kelvin for all gas calculations!
• Negative temperatures would result in negative pressures,
volumes, and moles.
• In some engineering fields, the Rankine temperature scale is
used, which is another absolute temperature scale.
• 0˚R = 0 K; 1˚R = 1.8 K

• The unit for moles is always mol.

• The units for measuring pressure and volume can vary. In gas
calculations, these units must agree with those of the gas constant
• R = 8.314 J mol-1 K-1
• R = 0.08206 L atm mol-1 K-1
• R = 62.37 L torr mol-1 K-1
22
Example Problem 5.3
• A sample of CO2 gas has a volume of 575 cm3 at 752 torr and
72˚F. What is the mass of carbon dioxide in this sample?

23
Partial Pressure
• Air is a mixture of gases.

• Gas laws do not depend on identity of gases.

• Pressure due to total moles gas present.

• The pressure exerted by a component of a gas mixture is

called the partial pressure for the component gas.

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Partial Pressure
• Dalton’s law of partial pressures: The total pressure (P) of a
mixture of gases is the sum of the partial pressures of the
component gases (Pi).
P   i Pi

• Daltons Law can be expressed in terms of mole fraction.

• Mole fraction (Xi) for a gas in a gas mixture is the moles of
the gas (ni) divided by the total moles gas present.
• The partial pressure of each gas is related to its mole
fraction.
ni
Xi   Pi  Xi P
ntotal

25
Example Problem 5.4
• A scientist tries to generate a mixture of gases similar to a
volcano by introducing 15.0 g of water vapor, 3.5 g of SO2,
and 1.0 g of CO2 into a 40.0 L vessel held at 120.0˚C.
Calculate the partial pressure of each gas and the total
pressure.

26
Example Problem 5.5
• A mixture has the mole fractions given in the following table:
Gas N2 O2 H 2O SO2
Mole Fraction 0.751 0.149 0.080 0.020

• If the desired pressure is 750. torr, what should the partial

pressures be for each gas?

• If the gas is to be in a 15.0 L vessel held at 30°C, how many

moles of each substance are needed?

27
Stoichiometry of Reactions Involving Gases

• For reactions involving gases, the ideal gas law is used to

determine moles of gas involved in the reaction.

• Use mole ratios (stoichiometry)

• Connect number of moles of a gas to its temperature,

pressure, or volume with ideal gas law

PV  nRT

28
Example Problem 5.6
• When an experiment required a source of carbon dioxide, a
student combined 1.4 g of sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3) with
excess hydrochloric acid (HCl). If the CO2 produced is
collected at 722 torr and 17˚C, what volume will the gas
occupy?

29
STP Conditions
• Standard temperature and pressure, STP, for a gas is 0˚C
(273.15 K) and 1 atm.

• For one mole of gas at STP, the standard molar volume is

22.41 L (calculated using ideal gas law)

• This number provides a conversion factor for

stoichiometric problems that include gases, provided the
STP conditions are maintained.

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Example Problem 5.7
• Carbon dioxide can be removed from a stream of gas by
reacting it with calcium oxide to form calcium carbonate. If we
react 5.50 L of CO2 at STP with excess CaO, what mass of
calcium carbonate will form?

31
Kinetic-Molecular Theory and Ideal versus Real Gases

• In many important practical settings, gases do not always

behave ideally, especially at very high pressure and/or very
low temperature.

• Nonideal gas behavior can be explained using Kinetic

Molecular Theory.

• Provides connections between observed macroscopic

properties of gases, the gas law equation, and the
behavior of gas molecules on a microscopic scale.

32
Postulates of the Model
• Gases are made up of large collections of particles, which are
in constant, random motion.

• Gas particles are infinitely small and occupy negligible

volume.

• Gas particles move in straight lines except when they collide

with other particles or with the container walls. These
collisions are elastic, so kinetic energy of particles is
conserved.

• Particles interact with each other only when collisions occur.

33
Postulates of the Model
• The average kinetic energy of a gas is proportional to the
absolute temperature of the gas but does not depend upon
the identity of the gas
1
KE avg  m rms
2

• As temperature increases, average speed for gas

molecules increases.

• Faster moving molecules collide more often and with

greater force, exerting a higher pressure.

34
Postulates of the Model
• At a given temperature, gas molecules in a sample can be
characterized by an average speed.

• Some gas molecules move faster than average, some

move slower than average.

• The distribution function that describes the speeds of a

collection of gas particles is known as the Maxwell-
Boltzmann distribution of speeds.

35
Postulates of the Model
• As temperature increases, average speed increases.
• As temperature increases, the fraction of molecules
moving at higher speeds increases.

36
Postulates of the Model
• For a fixed temperature, as the molecular weight increases,
the average speed for the gas molecules decreases.

37
Postulates of the Model
• The equation for the Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution
describes N(), which is the number of molecules moving with
speeds close to .
3/2
N ( )  M  2  M  2 /2 RT
 4    e
N total  2 RT

• Most gas molecules move at the most probable speed, which

is the peak of the curve in the Maxwell-Boltzmann plot.

2RT
 mp 
M

38
Postulates of the Model
• The Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution can be described in terms
of the average speed or root-mean-square speed.

• Average speed, avg, is 1.128 times mp.

• The existence of the “tail” on the distribution curve at

high speeds will pull the average to a speed higher than
the most probable value.

• rms = 1.085 times avg.

• The root-mean-square speed is useful because the

average kinetic energy is given by 1
KE avg  m rms
2

2 39
Real Gases and Limitations of the Kinetic Theory

• Kinetic molecular theory implies that the volume of a gas

molecule is insignificant compared to the “empty space”
volume for a gas sample.

• Mean free path used to test validity of assumption.

• Average distance a particle travels between collisions
with other particles.
• The mean free path for air at room temperature and
atmospheric pressure is 70 nm.
• This value is 200 times larger than the typical radius
of a small molecule like N2 or O2.
• Volume of empty space in a gas is 1 million times that
of gas particle volume.

40
Real Gases and Limitations of the Kinetic Theory

• The volume of a gas particle is significant compared to the

“empty space” volume under high pressure conditions.

• Mean free path decreases as pressure increases.

• Gas molecules are very close together.

• Therefore, volume of the gas particles becomes

significant.

41
Real Gases and Limitations of the Kinetic Theory

• Kinetic molecular theory asserts that gas molecules move in straight lines
and interact only through perfectly elastic collisions.

• Gas molecules neither attract nor repel.

• Strength of attractive forces small compared to kinetic energy of gas

molecules.

• Attractive and repulsive forces are significant under conditions of low

temperature.

• Kinetic energy decreases with temperature.

• Gas molecules experience “sticky” collisions.

• Collision rate decreases, decreasing the pressure.

42
Real Gases and Limitations of the Kinetic Theory

• The ideal gas model breaks down at high pressures and low
temperatures.
• high pressure: volume of particles no longer negligible
• low temperature: particles move slowly enough to interact

43
Correcting the Ideal Gas Equation

• van der Waals equation is commonly used to describe the

behavior of real gases

 an 2 
 P  V 2  V  nb   nRT

• a corrects for attractive forces.

• Molecules with stronger attractive forces have larger a
values.

• b corrects for the volume occupied by gas molecules.

• Large molecules have larger b values.
44
Correcting the Ideal Gas Equation

• The van der Waals

constants a and b
are compound
specific.

• Both are zero in

gases behaving
ideally.

45
Example Problem 5.8
• An empty 49.0 L methane storage tank has an empty mass of
55.85 kg and, when filled, has a mass of 62.07 kg. Calculate
the pressure of CH4 in the tank at 21˚C using both the ideal
gas equation and the van der Waals equation.

• What is the percentage correction achieved by using the more

realistic van der Waals equation?

46
Gas Sensors
• The concentration of air pollutants is monitored by the EPA.

• The concentration of a gas is proportional to the partial

pressure of the gas.

• Gas pressure sensors are used to monitor changes in partial

pressure or concentration of gases.

47
Capacitance Manometer

• Changes in pressure cause

deflections in the
diaphragm, changing the
capacitance.

• Used to measure
pressures from 0.001 -
1000 torr

48
Thermocouple Gauge

• Measures pressure by the

cooling effect of colliding
gas molecules.

• Higher pressure, more

collisions with heated
filament, lowers filament
temperature.

• Used to measure
pressures from 0.01 to
1.0 torr

49
Ionization Gauge

• Pressure measured by
producing gaseous caions
with the electrons emitted
from a hot filament.

• Higher pressure, more

gas cations, more
current collected at the
grid.

• Used to measure
pressures as low as 10-
11 torr.

50
Gas Sensors

• A thermocouple gauge, a capacitance manometer, and an

ionization gauge.
51
Mass Spectrometers
• Mass spectrometers can be used to measure partial
pressures for gas mixtures.

• Mass spectrometers ionize gas like an ionization gauge,

but can select the mass of the gas being analyzed with the
use of a magnetic field.

• Several masses can be scanned simultaneously allowing

for multiple gas analyses.

• Current generated can be used to determine the partial

pressure of gas.
52