Module 9: States of Matter and Gas Laws

Created in the early 17th century, the gas laws help chemists find volume, amount, pressure, and temperature of gases. There are several gas laws including Charles’s Law, Boyle’s Law, Avogadro’s Law, and the Gay-Lussac Law. Together, these laws combine to form the Combined Gas Law. You will also learn about the Ideal Gas Law, Graham’s, Law and Dalton’s Law. These different gas laws can be used to describe events that may have occurred in your life. After exploring the gas laws, you will understand why a bicycle tire goes flat during cold weather. You will also learn why a hot air balloon can float while carrying passengers. The laws are helpful in determining how gases react while being contained. In this module, your journey begins by learning about an ideal gas through a study of the kinetic molecular theory. Then, you will explore each of the different gas laws and learn how to solve problems using the equations associated with each one. Finally, you will combine you knowledge of the gas laws to solve problems using stoichiometry.

Getting Stated

Before you learn about the different gas laws, complete this non-graded activity to check your knowledge. Read each of the following descriptions of the gas laws and use the drop-down menu to select the name of the law that the statement matches. To check your responses click SUBMIT. Click the activity thumbnail, and then click NEXT to get started.

 

Key Vocabulary

To view the definitions for these key vocabulary terms, visit the course glossary.

Avogadro’s Law	diffusion	Kinetic Molecular Theory
Boyle’s Law	effusion	molar volume
Charles’s Law	Gay-Lussac Law	phase diagram
Combined Gas Law	Grahams Law of Effusion	stoichiometry
Dalton’s Law of Partial Pressures	Ideal Gas Law	vapor pressure diagram