Ideal Gas Law - Adding additional gas & additional question

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the ideal gas law, specifically focusing on the implications of adding additional moles of gas (n) and the effects of compression on pressure, volume, and temperature. Participants explore theoretical scenarios and relationships within the context of the ideal gas law, including potential changes in temperature and the nature of adiabatic processes.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Technical explanation
  • Conceptual clarification
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • One participant suggests that adding moles of gas should increase pressure due to more collisions, but questions if temperature could drop while keeping PV constant.
  • Another participant emphasizes that if the ideal gas law holds, an increase in n while maintaining constant pressure would imply a reduction in temperature, though the mechanism for this is not specified.
  • Discussion includes the idea that compressing a gas increases pressure and temperature, but questions arise about the relationship between pressure, volume, and temperature under these conditions.
  • Adiabatic processes are mentioned as a context where pressure and volume may not be directly proportional, suggesting a different relationship when heat exchange is not allowed.
  • One participant asserts that the ideal gas law remains valid and that the relationship PV/T is constant as long as the number of particles does not change.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express varying interpretations of the implications of the ideal gas law, particularly regarding temperature changes when adding gas or compressing it. There is no clear consensus on the mechanisms at play or the conditions under which the ideal gas law applies.

Contextual Notes

Participants note that the discussion involves assumptions about heat exchange and the nature of the processes being considered, particularly in relation to adiabatic conditions. The implications of these assumptions on the ideal gas law are not fully resolved.

Electric to be
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Hello, I know this has been fairly discussed to death, but I've had relative trouble finding a response that specifically addresses the n, in PV= nRT, the ideal gas law.

Out of relatively common sense, by adding additional moles of gas, the pressure in the gas should increase as there are more molecules, and therefore more collisions with the container the gas is held in. However, is it possible that by increasing n, the temperature will drop, as seen by their inversely proportional relationship in the equation? (somehow keeping PV constant)

Also, in regards to simply compressing a gas. I understand that if a gas is compressed, pressure is increased and work is done to the gas molecules and thus more energy is transferred into them, increasing their average kinetic energy and temperature. However, in this increase of pressure through compression, volume also decreases. I understand that PV = nRT is simply a way to model ideal gas law behavior, and that work does actually occur and the temperature of the gas should increase, but if the pressure increases, and the volume decreases, keeping PV equal to nRT, why would there be a need, according to the equation, for the temperature to also increase? Does the pressure increase in an amount that is more than proportional to the decrease in volume, which would require an increase in the temperature, according to the equation?
 
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For your second question look up adiabatic processes, if we assume that the system is fully isolated and can't have any heat flow going on then indeed the volume and pressure and not proportional as ##\frac{1}{x}##
 
Electric to be said:
Hello, I know this has been fairly discussed to death, but I've had relative trouble finding a response that specifically addresses the n, in PV= nRT, the ideal gas law.

Out of relatively common sense, by adding additional moles of gas, the pressure in the gas should increase as there are more molecules, and therefore more collisions with the container the gas is held in. However, is it possible that by increasing n, the temperature will drop, as seen by their inversely proportional relationship in the equation? (somehow keeping PV constant)
Somehow keeping PV constant -- that's the key. If the equation is to hold, the temperature must be reduced. Maybe somebody is rubbing ice cubes all over the outside of your container. The equation does not tell you what is happening to reduce the temperature. It simply tells you that if you add gas, hold volume constant and observe that pressure is constant then you can correctly conclude that temperature has been reduced -- somehow.
 
Coffee_ said:
For your second question look up adiabatic processes, if we assume that the system is fully isolated and can't have any heat flow going on then indeed the volume and pressure and not proportional as ##\frac{1}{x}##

So if I roughly understand it correctly, under conditions where temperature can change, PV ≠ P'V', but PV/T will still be equal to P'V'/T', correct? Also pressure and volume are still inversely proportional if the temperature is constant right?
 
Yes it's been a while but I'm pretty sure the ideal gas law still holds and as long as the amount of particles don't change pV/T is constant that is just a property of the gas. The ##PV^{\gamma}=c## is a property of the proces where no heat can be exhanged.
 

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