Pressure is the force exerted by gas molecules as they collide with the walls of their container. It is a measure of how frequently and forcefully gas particles hit the container walls.
There are different units to measure pressure, including:
- Atmospheres (atm)
- Pascal (Pa)
- Millimeters of mercury (mmHg)
- Torr
Pressure plays a crucial role in understanding gas behavior, especially when studying real gases. For instance, at high pressures, the volume of a gas decreases and intermolecular forces become significant, causing deviations from ideal gas behavior.
Boyle's Temperature is particularly important here, as it is the temperature at which a real gas behaves like an ideal gas over a wide range of pressures. At this temperature, the gas follows Boyle's Law, which states that for a given amount of gas at constant temperature, the volume is inversely proportional to the pressure:\[ PV = \text{{constant}} \]