Lesson 4: Gas behaviour

What you need to know: 1. What volume, temperature and pressure mean for a gas. 2. What is absolute zero. 3. The difference between Kelvin and Celsius.

The Sun is essentially a giant ball of superheated hydrogen (72%) and helium (28%) gas and it behaves just like any other gas. This means if we are to understand how the material in the Sun behaves, we need to understand how a gas behaves. There are 4 different properties that a gas will have: Mass: How much matter the gas has (kg). Temperature: How hot the gas is. Volume: The amount of space the gas occupies. Pressure: The force that a gas exerts upon its container.

Pressure and volume in a gas are linked in a very straightforward way. If you increase the pressure of a gas, then you will reduce the volume, and if you decrease the pressure of a gas you will increase its volume. Volume

Pressure In your exam you might be asked to describe the relationship between pressure and volume. The reason for this link between pressure and volume is because of the fact that a gas is made out of particles. Gas particles move randomly around a container banging on the walls of the container creating pressure. If you reduce the volume of the container, you will still have the same amount of particles but in a Studydoctor 2009

smaller space. This means that the gas particles will be hitting the container walls more often and so the pressure will increase. So you can see why reducing volume increases pressure. This is called the Kinetic model of matter. In your exam you may be asked how the kinetic model of matter explains pressure. Volume and pressure are also linked to temperature. The faster molecules are moving about the greater the pressure it exerts and the greater its temperature. This means that if you reduce the temperature of a gas you will: Reduce the pressure that the gas exerts on the container. Reduce the volume of the gas. There is a point where you can reduce the temperature of a gas to such a point that every atom and molecule stops moving and this is called absolute zero, which is -273o Celsius. Volume Pressure

Temperature

Temperature

In your exam you may be asked to explain what absolute zero is. Instead of using Celsius and minus numbers, it is easier to use units of temperature measurement that start at absolute zero, this is called the Kelvin scale and 0oKelvin = -273oCelsius. Temperature in Kelvin = Temperature in Celsius + 273 In your exam you may be asked to calculate the temperature in Kelvin from a given temperature in Celsius, or vice versa.

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Recap: 1. The behaviour of a gas can be explained by its temperature, pressure, volume and mass. 2. The kinetic model of matter explains how a gas exerts pressure on its container. 3. The temperature of a gas is linked to its pressure and volume. Reduce the temperature and you will reduce the pressure and the volume and vice versa. 4. Absolute zero is the temperature at which all matter stops moving.

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