gas laws

gas laws, physical laws describing the behavior of a gas under various conditions of pressure, volume, and temperature. Experimental results indicate that all real gases behave in approximately the same manner, having their volume reduced by about the same proportion of the original volume for each drop of 1° on the Celsius temperature scale. Graphs drawn to describe this behavior can be extrapolated, and all converge to a point corresponding to about -273°C (-459°F)—this point is called absolute zero. A temperature scale defined so that zero degrees corresponds to this zero-volume temperature coordinate is known as an absolute scale. The Kelvin temperature scale begins at this absolute zero and has degrees the same size as those of the Celsius scale.

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2007, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

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