What do the symbols in the gas equation represent?

[ArcHorizon]

Homework Statement

So, I was looking at this unit called 'Modelling a gas'. This unit showed me this equation called the 'Ideal Gas Law Equation'. They didn't really explain about the equation, so I was curious about what the initials stood for. I can't really believe what my friend explained to me, so I decided to post it on the forum and ask for the details about this equation. Such as what the initials mean, and how this equation got formed.

Relevant Equations

The Ideal Gas Law Equation

This was the equation that they showed me.
I thought P was for pressure, V for Volume, T for Temperature, R for Gas Constant, and n for the number of moles.
Was I correct for the initials?

 

[mjc123]

Yes. What is it that you don't understand or can't believe?

Have you heard of Boyle's Law and Charles's Law? (Google them if not.) These are laws discovered experimentally (they are strictly true for ideal gases, but true to a good approximation for real gases).
Boyle: P*V is constant at constant temperature.
Charles: V ∝ T at constant pressure.
The ideal gas law is a generalisation which, as you can see if you examine it, includes both Boyle's and Charles's laws.

R is called "the gas constant" because it was originally used as the proportionality constant in this equation, but in fact it is a fundamental constant relating energy and temperature, and as such crops up throughout physics - that's why, for example, the "gas constant" R occurs in expressions for the heat capacity of solids.

 

[Chandra Prayaga]

Incidentally, the letters p, V, n, R and T are called "symbols" which stand for "variables". Your identification of symbols with variables was correct.