Question

What is the distinction between gas and vapor?

Short answer

The term vaporrefers to the gas phase when it exists at a temperature below boiling temperature. Or we can say that it is a mixture of two or more different phases at room temperature. Whereas gas contains a single thermodynamics state at room temperature.

Step-by-step solution

Difference between gas & vapor

Anything that takes space and has some weight is called matter. Gas is also a state of matter, even though it isn't visible, it takes space and has some volume and mass. The gaseous state has neither a definite shape nor volume. An example of gas is oxygen, carbon dioxide, and water vapor.

Vapor is a substance in its gaseous state.

Vapour

• Vapor is a mixture of two or more different phases at room temperature, they are liquid and gaseous phase
• When observed under a microscope, the particles arranged in a proper shape
• It consists of random molecules and atoms, which move randomly
• It is not a state of matter, unlike gas.
• It may occur at a temperature below boiling point

Eg: Water vapor, Iodine vapor

Gas

• Gas usually contains a single thermodynamic state at room temperature.
• When observed under a microscope, it does not have a definite shape
• It also consists of random molecules and atoms, which move randomly
• Gases are a state of matter
• It appears at a temperature greater than or equal to the boiling point

Eg: Helium, Oxygen, Nitrogen