Ideal Gas Law as an Approximation

[Daisylookinland]

In the outline Dr. Lavelle posted, he says we need to be able to identify reactions where the ideal gas law can be used as an approximation.
What exactly does this mean?

[Patrick Cai 1L]

Typically, we can approximate and use the ideal gas law wherever there is a simple atomic or diatomic gas at STP like that of helium and nitrogen; these are the most like point-particles.

[Victor Qiu 1C]

I think that means that we can easily see if we can apply PV=nRT in the question.

[Pierce Newman 1A]

yeah like if you are given information that would lead you to be able to find concentration or partial pressure using the ideal gas law.

[kareena_prasad]

Gases behave more ideally at lower pressures because the lower the pressure, the more negligible the volume of each individual particle becomes.
Gases behave more ideally at higher temperatures because at higher temperatures, molecules have enough energy to overcome intermolecular forces. Also, at higher temperatures, the pressure change from collisions against the side of the container is negligible due to the greater amounts of energy, unlike at lower temperatures.
Smaller gases behave more ideally than larger gases because the smaller the gas, the more negligible particle volume becomes, and according to the ideal gas equation, ideal gases do not have volume.

[Nataly Antonova 1B]

From the problems I remember solving, you most often find the moles of gas reacting at a certain T and P through the ideal gas law. This is not often stated directly but if you notice that the value of moles of a reacting gas is missing and you are given both T and P, it most likely implies using PV=nRT

[butteredbread]

This statement means that you should be able to recognize when a problem requires you to use the ideal gas law to find a missing variable and then plug in to solve the question.

[RobinFong_2B]

it means to apply the equation PV=nRT and manipulate it to fins any of the given variables provided the rest.

[Brenda Tran 3C]

I think it means know when to use the ideal gas law PV=nRT. For example, when we do not know the concentration but are given the pressure, volume, and temperature we can rely on PV=nRT.

[105740916]

It just means knowing how to implement the ideal gas law equation into a problem.

[Aneesha_Nema_3C]

This just means that we need to identify whether a gas is acting like an ideal gas, and if it is, we can PV=nRT to examine the relationships between each of the variables