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What must be true about a gas for Boyle's and Charles' Laws to be applicable?

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Final answer:

Boyle's and Charles's laws apply to a gas when the temperature and quantity of the gas are kept constant for Boyle's law, while pressure and quantity are constants in Charles's law, and temperatures are measured in Kelvins.

Step-by-step explanation:

For Boyle's Law and Charles's Law to apply to a gas, certain conditions must be met. Boyle's law states that the pressure and volume of a gas have an inverse relationship when the temperature and quantity (moles) of the gas are kept constant. Charles's law, on the other hand, illustrates that the volume of a gas is directly proportional to its temperature when the pressure and quantity of the gas are held constant. In both cases, temperatures must be measured in Kelvins, which is the absolute temperature scale.

These laws are derived under the assumption that the gas being described behaves ideally. This means the gas particles have negligible volume and no intermolecular forces acting between them. Real gases can often be modelled as ideal gases, particularly under conditions of high temperature and low pressure, where they behave most like ideal gases.

Additionally, it is also implied that the gas molecules move randomly and that the collisions between them are perfectly elastic, ensuring that no kinetic energy is lost in the process.

User Andrew Connell
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Final answer:

For Boyle's law and Charles's law to apply, a gas must behave ideally with no intermolecular forces and occupy negligible volume, with temperatures expressed in kelvins. Boyle's law involves pressure and volume at constant temperature and amount, while Charles's law involves volume and temperature at constant pressure and amount.

Step-by-step explanation:

For Boyle's law and Charles's law to be applicable to a gas, certain conditions must be met. Boyle's law states that the pressure and volume of a gas are inversely proportional when the temperature and amount of gas are held constant. In mathematical terms, P₁ × V₁ = P₂ × V₂, assuming that the temperature and the amount of gas are unchanged.

On the other hand, Charles's law establishes a direct proportionality between the volume and temperature of a gas when its pressure and amount remain constant. This can be expressed as V₁/T₁ = V₂/T₂, with temperatures measured in kelvins. It is crucial in these calculations to use temperatures in kelvins because these laws are based on the absolute temperature scale, where zero kelvin is absolute zero.

Therefore, for these gas laws to apply, the gas should behave ideally, meaning its molecules do not attract or repel each other and occupy a negligible volume. This ideal behavior is a close approximation for real gases under many conditions, particularly at low pressures and high temperatures. When applying Boyle's or Charles's laws, changes in conditions must be isolated to the variables they describe, and all other facets of the gas (such as the amount in moles) must remain constant.

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