Chemistry Independent Study: Gas Laws

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Term Paper Title	Chemistry Independent Study: Gas Laws
# of Words	2559
# of Pages (250 words per page double spaced)	10.24

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Chemistry Independent Study: Gas Laws

Fahed Abu-Ghazaleh
Chemistry IB20
Miss. Tillier
Friday, June 6th, 1999
Gas Laws

Since the days of Aristotle, all substances have been classified into one of three physical states. A substance having a fixed volume and shape is a solid. A substance, which has a fixed volume but not a fixed shape, is a liquid; liquids assume the shape of their container but do not necessarily fill it. A substance having neither a fixed shape nor a fixed volume is a gas; gases assume both the shape and the volume of their container. The structures of gases, and their behavior, are simpler than the structures and behavior of the two condensed phases, the solids and the liquids

Pressure and the Law of Boyle

Quantitative measurements on gases were first made in a rational manner by the English chemist Robert Boyle (1627 - 1691). The instruments used by Boyle to measure pressure were two: the manometer, which measures differences in pressure, and the barometer, which measures the total pressure of the atmosphere.

A manometer is simply a bent piece of tubing, preferably glass with one end closed.

When the liquid level in both arms is the same, the pressure of the sample of gas inside the closed end must equal the pressure of the external atmosphere since the downward force on the two columns of liquid is then equal. When the liquid levels are unequal, the pressures must differ. The difference in pressure can be measured in units of length of the vertical column of liquid. The mm Hg, or its modern version the torr, originated in this use of the manometer. Mercury is particularly convenient for use in manometers (and barometers) because at room temperature it has low vapor pressure, does not wet glass, and has a high density. Other liquids such as linseed oil or water have also been used in manometers.

The barometer is a device for measuring the total pressure of the atmosphere. A primitive barometer can easily be constructed by taking a glass tube about a meter long, sealing one end, filling the tube completely with mercury, placing your thumb firmly over the open end, and carefully inverting the tube into an open dish filled with mercury. The mercury will fall to a height independent of the diameter of the tube and a vacuum will be created above it.

The height of the mercury column will be the height which the atmospheric pressure can support. The standard atmospheric pressure, one atmosphere (a...

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