GAS LAWS

CONCEPT
Gases respond more dramatically to temperature and pressure than do the other three basic types of
matter (liquids, solids and plasma). For gases, temperature and pressure are closely related to volume, and
this allows us to predict their behavior under certain conditions. These predictions can explain mundane
occurrences, such as the fact that an open can of soda will soon lose its fizz, but they also apply to more
dramatic, life-and-death situations.

HOW IT WORKS
Ordinary air pressure at sea level is equal to 14.7 pounds per square inch, a quantity referred to as an
atmosphere (atm). Because a pound is a unit of force and a kilogram a unit of mass, the metric equivalent
is more complex in derivation. A newton (N), or 0.2248 pounds, is the metric unit of force, and a pascal
(Pa)1 newton per square meterthe unit of pressure. Hence, an atmosphere, expressed in metric terms,
is 1.013 105 Pa.

Boyle's, Charles's, and Gay-Lussac's Laws

Boyle's law holds that in isothermal conditions (that is, a situation in which temperature is kept constant),
an inverse relationship exists between the volume and pressure of a gas. (An inverse relationship is a
situation involving two variables, in which one of the two increases in direct proportion to the decrease in
the other.) In this case, the greater the pressure, the less the volume and vice versa. Therefore the product
of the volume multiplied by the pressure remains constant in all circumstances.
Charles's law also yields a constant, but in this case the temperature and volume are allowed to vary
under isobarometric conditionsthat is, a situation in which the pressure remains the same. As gas heats
up, its volume increases, and when it cools down, its volume reduces accordingly. Hence, Charles
established that the ratio of temperature to volume is constant.
By now a pattern should be emerging: both of the aforementioned laws treat one parameter (temperature
in Boyle's, pressure in Charles's) as unvarying, while two other factors are treated as variables. Both in turn
yield relationships between the two variables: in Boyle's law, pressure and volume are inversely related,
whereas in Charles's law, temperature and volume are directly related.
In Gay-Lussac's law, a third parameter, volume, is treated as a constant, and the result is a constant ratio
between the variables of pressure and temperature. According to Gay-Lussac's law, the pressure of a gas is
directly related to its absolute temperature.
Absolute temperature refers to the Kelvin scale, established by William Thomson, Lord Kelvin (1824-1907).
Drawing on Charles's discovery that gas at 0C (32F) regularly contracted by about 1/273 of its volume
for every Celsius degree drop in temperature, Thomson derived the value of absolute zero (273.15C
or459.67F). Using the Kelvin scale of absolute temperature, Gay-Lussac found that at lower
temperatures, the pressure of a gas is lower, while at higher temperatures its pressure is higher. Thus, the
ratio of pressure to temperature is a constant.

Avogadro's Law
Gay-Lussac also discovered that the ratio in which gases combine to form compounds can be expressed in
whole numbers: for instance, water is composed of one part oxygen and two parts hydrogen. In the
language of modern science, this would be expressed as a relationship between molecules and atoms: one
molecule of water contains one oxygen atom and two hydrogen atoms.
In the early nineteenth century, however, scientists had yet to recognize a meaningful distinction between
atoms and molecules. Avogadro was the first to achieve an understanding of the difference. Intrigued by
the whole-number relationship discovered by Gay-Lussac, Avogadro reasoned that one liter of any gas
must contain the same number of particles as a liter of another gas. He further maintained that gas
consists of particleswhich he called moleculesthat in turn consist of one or more smaller particles.
In order to discuss the behavior of molecules, it was necessary to establish a large quantity as a basic unit,
since molecules themselves are very small. For this purpose, Avogadro established the mole, a unit equal
to 6.022137 1023 (more than 600 billion trillion) molecules. The term "mole" can be used in the same
way we use the word "dozen." Just as "a dozen" can refer to twelve cakes or twelve chickens, so "mole"
always describes the same number of molecules.

Just as one liter of water, or one liter of mercury, has a certain mass, a mole of any given substance has its
own particular mass, expressed in grams. The mass of one mole of iron, for instance, will always be greater
than that of one mole of oxygen. The ratio between them is exactly the same as the ratio of the mass of
one iron atom to one oxygen atom. Thus the mole makes if possible to compare the mass of one element
or one compound to that of another.
Avogadro's law describes the connection between gas volume and number of moles. According to
Avogadro's law, if the volume of gas is increased under isothermal and isobarometric conditions, the
number of moles also increases. The ratio between volume and number of moles is therefore a constant.

The Ideal Gas Law

Once again, it is easy to see how Avogadro's law can be related to the laws discussed earlier, since they
each involve two or more of the four parameters: temperature, pressure, volume, and quantity of
molecules (that is, number of moles). In fact, all the laws so far described are brought together in what is
known as the ideal gas law, sometimes called the combined gas law.
The ideal gas law can be stated as a formula, pV = nRT, where p stands for pressure, V for volume, n for
number of moles, and T for temperature. R is known as the universal gas constant, a figure equal to
0.0821 atm liter/mole K. (Like most terms in physics, this one is best expressed in metric rather than
English units.)
Given the equation pV = nRT and the fact that R is a constant, it is possible to find the value of any one
variablepressure, volume, number of moles, or temperatureas long as one knows the value of the
other three. The ideal gas law also makes it possible to discern certain relations: thus if a gas is in a
relatively cool state, the product of its pressure and volume is proportionately low; and if heated, its
pressure and volume product increases correspondingly. Thus where p 1V 1 is the product of its initial
pressure and its initial volume, T 1 its initial temperature, p 2V 2 the product of its final volume and final
pressure, and T 2 its final temperature.

Five Postulates Regarding the Behavior of Gases

Five postulates can be applied to gases. Thesemore or less restate the terms of the earlier discussion, in
which gases were compared to solidsand liquids; however, now those comparisonscan be seen in light of
the gas laws.
First, the size of gas molecules is minusculein comparison to the distance between them, making gas
highly compressible. In other words, there is a relatively high proportion of emptyspace between gas
molecules.
Second, there is virtually no force attractinggas molecules to one another.
Third, though gas molecules move randomly, frequently colliding with one another, theirnet effect is to
create uniform pressure.
Fourth, the elastic nature of the collisionsresults in no net loss of kinetic energy, the energy that an object
possesses by virtue of itsmotion. If a stone is dropped from a height, it rapidly builds kinetic energy, but
upon hitting anonelastic surface such as pavement, most of thatkinetic energy is transferred to the
pavement. In the case of two gas molecules colliding, however, they simply bounce off one another, only
to collide with other molecules and so on, with no kinetic energy lost.
Fifth, the kinetic energy of all gas molecules is directly proportional to the absolute temperature of the gas.

Laws of Partial Pressure

Two gas laws describe partial pressure. Dalton's law of partial pressure states that the total pressure of a
gas is equal to the sum of its par tial pressuresthat is, the pressure exerted by each component of the
gas mixture. As noted earlier, air is composed mostly of nitrogen and oxygen. Along with these are small
components carbon dioxide and gases collectively known as the rare or noble gases: argon, helium,
krypton, neon, radon, and xenon. Hence, the total pressure of a given quantity of air is equal to the sum of
the pressures exerted by each of these gases.
Henry's law states that the amount of gas dissolved in a liquid is directly proportional to the partial
pressure of the gas above the surface of the solution. This applies only to gases such as oxygen and
hydrogen that do not react chemically to liquids. On the other hand, hydrochloric acid will ionize when
introduced to water: one or more of its electrons will be removed, an

REAL-LIFE APPLICATIONS
Pressure Changes
OPENING A SODA CAN.
Inside a can or bottle of carbonated soda is carbon dioxide gas (CO2), most of which is dissolved in the
drink itself. But some of it is in the space (sometimes referred to as "head space") that makes up the
difference between the volume of the soft drink and the volume of the container.
At the bottling plant, the soda manufacturer adds high-pressure carbon dioxide to the head space in order
to ensure that more CO2 will be absorbed into the soda itself. This is in accordance with Henry's law: the
amount of gas (in this case CO2) dissolved in the liquid (soda) is directly proportional to the partial
pressure of the gas above the surface of the solutionthat is, the CO2 in the head space. The higher the
pressure of the CO2 in the head space, the greater the amount of CO2 in the drink itself; and the greater
the CO2 in the drink, the greater the "fizz" of the soda.
Once the container is opened, the pressure in the head space drops dramatically. Once again, Henry's law
indicates that this drop in pressure will be reflected by a corresponding drop in the amount of
CO2 dissolved in the soda. Over a period of time, the soda will release that gas, and will eventually go
"flat."

FIRE EXTINGUISHERS.
A fire extinguisher consists of a long cylinder with an operating lever at the top. Inside the cylinder is a
tube of carbon dioxide surrounded by a quantity of water, which creates pressure around the CO2 tube. A
siphon tube runs vertically along the length of the extinguisher, with one opening near the bottom of the
water. The other end opens in a chamber containing a spring mechanism attached to a release valve in the
CO2 tube.
The water and the CO2 do not fill the entire cylinder: as with the soda can, there is "head space," an area
filled with air. When the operating lever is depressed, it activates the spring mechanism, which pierces the
release valve at the top of the CO2 tube. When the valve opens, the CO2 spills out in the "head space,"
exerting pressure on the water. This high-pressure mixture of water and carbon dioxide goes rushing out of
the siphon tube, which was opened when the release valve was depressed. All of this happens, of course,
in a fraction of a secondplenty of time to put out the fire.

AEROSOL CANS.
Aerosol cans are similar in structure to fire extinguishers, though with one important difference. As with the
fire extinguisher, an aerosol can includes a nozzle that depresses a spring mechanism, which in turn allows
fluid to escape through a tube. But instead of a gas cartridge surrounded by water, most of the can's
interior is made up of the product (for instance, deodorant), mixed with a liquid propellant.
The "head space" of the aerosol can is filled with highly pressurized propellant in gas form, and in
accordance with Henry's law, a corresponding proportion of this propellant is dissolved in the product itself.
When the nozzle is depressed, the pressure of the propellant forces the product out through the nozzle.
A propellant, as its name implies, propels the product itself through the spray nozzle when the latter is
depressed. In the past, chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs)manufactured compounds containing carbon, chlorine,
and fluorine atomswere the most widely used form of propellant. Concerns over the harmful effects of
CFCs on the environment, however, has led to the development of alternative propellants, most notably
hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs), CFC-like compounds that also contain hydrogen atoms.

When the Temperature Changes

A number of interesting things, some of them unfortunate and some potentially lethal, occur when gases
experience a change in temperature. In these instances, it is possible to see the gas lawsparticularly
Boyle's and Charles'sat work.
There are a number of examples of the disastrous effects that result from an increase in the temperature
of a product containing combustible gases, as with natural gas and petroleum-based products. In addition,
the pressure on the gases in aerosol cans makes the cans highly explosiveso much so that discarded
cans at a city dump may explode on a hot summer day. Yet there are other instances when heating a gas
can produce positive effects.

A hot-air balloon, for instance, floats because the air inside it is not as dense than the air outside. By itself,
this fact does not depend on any of the gas laws, but rather reflects the concept of buoyancy. However,
the way in which the density of the air in the balloon is reduced does indeed reflect the gas laws.
According to Charles's law, heating a gas will increase its volume. Also, as noted in the first and second
propositions regarding the behavior of gases, gas molecules are highly nonattractive to one another, and
therefore, there is a great deal of space between them. The increase in volume makes that space even
greater, leading to a significant difference in density between the air in the balloon and the air outside. As
a result, the balloon floats, or becomes buoyant.
Although heating a gas can be beneficial, cooling a gas is not always a wise idea. If someone were to put a
bag of potato chips into a freezer, thinking this would preserve their flavor, he would be in for a
disappointment. Much of what maintains the flavor of the chips is the pressurization of the bag, which
ensures a consistent internal environment in which preservative chemicals, added during the manufacture
of the chips, can keep them fresh. Placing the bag in the freezer causes a reduction in pressure, as per
Gay-Lussac's law, and the bag ends up a limp version of its earlier self.
Propane tanks and tires offer an example of the pitfalls that may occur by either allowing a gas to heat up
or cool down by too much. Because most propane tanks are made according to strict regulations, they are
generally safe, but it is not entirely inconceivable that an extremely hot summer day could cause a
defective tank to burst. Certainly the laws of physics are there: an increase in temperature leads to an
increase in pressure, in accordance with Gay-Lussac's law, and could lead to an explosion.
Because of the connection between heat and pressure, propane trucks on the highways during the
summer are subjected to weight tests to ensure that they are not carrying too much of the gas. On the
other hand, a drastic reduction in temperature could result in a loss in gas pressure. If a propane tank
from Florida were transported by truck during the winter to northern Canada, the pressure would be
dramatically reduced by the time it reached its destination.

Gas Reactions That Move and Stop a Car

In operating a car, we experience two examples of gas laws in operation. One of these, common to
everyone, is that which makes the car run: the combustion of gases in the engine. The other is,
fortunately, a less frequent phenomenonbut it can and does save lives. This is the operation of an air
bag, which, though it is partly related to laws of motion, depends also on the behaviors explained in
Charles's law.
With regard to the engine, when the driver pushes down on the accelerator, this activates a throttle valve
that sprays droplets of gasoline mixed with air into the engine. (Older vehicles used a carburetor to mix the
gasoline and air, but most modern cars use fuel-injection, which sprays the air-gas combination without
requiring an intermediate step.) The mixture goes into the cylinder, where the piston moves up,
compressing the gas and air.
While the mixture is still compressed (high pressure, high density), an electric spark plug produces a flash
that ignites it. The heat from this controlled explosion increases the volume of air, which forces the piston
down into the cylinder. This opens an outlet valve, causing the piston to rise and release exhaust gases.
As the piston moves back down again, an inlet valve opens, bringing another burst of gasoline-air mixture
into the chamber. The piston, whose downward stroke closed the inlet valve, now shoots back up,
compressing the gas and air to repeat the cycle. The reactions of the gasoline and air are what move the
piston, which turns a crankshaft that causes the wheels to rotate.
So much for movingwhat about stopping? Most modern cars are equipped with an airbag, which reacts to
sudden impact by inflating. This protects the driver and front-seat passenger, who, even if they are
wearing seatbelts, may otherwise be thrown against the steering wheel or dashboard..
But an airbag is much more complicated than it seems. In order for it to save lives, it must deploy within
40 milliseconds (0.04 seconds). Not only that, but it has to begin deflating before the body hits it. An
airbag does not inflate if a car simply goes over a bump; it only operates in situations when the vehicle
experiences extremedeceleration. When this occurs, there is a rapidtransfer of kinetic energy to rest
energy, as with the earlier illustration of a stone hitting concrete. And indeed, if you were to smash against
a fullyinflated airbag, it would feel like hitting concretewith all the expected results.
The airbag's sensor contains a steel ballattached to a permanent magnet or a stiff spring. The spring holds
it in place through minormishaps in which an airbag would not be warrantedfor instance, if a car were

simply to be "tapped" by another in a parking lot. But in a case of sudden deceleration, the magnet or
springreleases the ball, sending it down a smooth bore. It flips a switch, turning on an electrical circuit.This
in turn ignites a pellet of sodium azide, which fills the bag with nitrogen gas.
The events described in the above illustration take place within 40 millisecondsless time than it takes for
your body to come flying forward; and then the airbag has to begin deflating before the body reaches it. At
this point, the highly pressurized nitrogen gas molecules begin escaping through vents. Thus as your body
hits the bag, the deflation of the latter is moving it in the same direction that your body is goingonly
much, much more slowly. Two seconds after impact, which is an eternity in terms of the processes
involved, the pressure inside the bag has returned to 1 atm.

KEY TERMS
ABSOLUTE TEMPERATURE:
Temperature in relation to absolute zero (273.15C or 459.67F). Its unit is the Kelvin (K), named after
William Thomson, Lord Kelvin (1824-1907), who created the scale. The Kelvin and Celsius scales are
directly related; hence, Celsius temperatures can be converted to Kelvins (for which neither the word or
symbol for "degree" are used) by adding 273.15.

AVOGADRO'S LAW:
A statement, derived by the Italian physicist Amedeo Avogadro (1776-1856), which holds that as the
volume of gas increases under isothermal and isobarometric conditions, the number of molecules
(expressed in terms of mole number), increases as well. Thus the ratio of volume to mole number is
aconstant.

BOYLE'S LAW:
A statement, derived by English chemist Robert Boyle (1627-1691), which holds that for gases in
isothermal conditions, an inverse relationship exists between the volume and pressure of a gas. This
means that the greater the pressure, the less the volume and viceversa, and therefore the product of
pressure multiplied by volume yields a constantfigure.

CHARLES'S LAW:
A statement, derived by French physicist and chemist J. A. C. Charles (1746-1823), which holds that for
gases in isobarometric conditions, the ratio between the volume and temperature of a gas is constant. This
means that the greater the temperature, the greater the volume and vice versa.

DALTON'S LAW OF PARTIAL PRESSURE:

A statement, derived by the English chemist John Dalton (1766-1844), which holds that the total pressure
of a gas is equal to the sum of its partial pressuresthat is, the pressure exerted by each component of
the gas mixture.

GAY-LUSSAC'S LAW:
A statement, derived by the French physicist and chemist Joseph Gay-Lussac (1778-1850), which holds that
the pressure of a gas is directly related to its absolute temperature. Hence the ratio of pressure to absolute
temperature is a constant.

HENRY'S LAW:
A statement, derived by the English chemist William Henry (1774-836), which holds that the amount of gas
dissolved in a liquid is directly proportional to the partial pressure of the gas above the solution. This holds
true only forgases, such as hydrogen and oxygen, that are capable of dissolving in water without
undergoing ionization.

IDEAL GAS LAW:

A proposition, also known as the combined gas law, that draws on all the gas laws. The ideal gas law can
be expressed as the formula pV = nRT, where p stands for pressure, V for volume, n for number of moles,
andT for temperature. R is known as the universal gas constant, a figure equal to 0.0821
atm liter/mole K.

INVERSE RELATIONSHIP:
A situation involving two variables, in which one of the two increases in direct proportion to the decrease in
the other.

IONIZATION:
A reaction in which anatom or group of atoms loses one or more electrons. The atoms are then converted
toions, which are either wholly positive or negative in charge.

ISOTHERMAL:
Referring to a situation in which temperature is kept constant.

ISOBAROMETRIC:
Referring to a situation in which pressure is kept constant.

MOLE:
A unit equal to 6.022137 1023 molecules.

Thermodynamics
Thermodynamics is the study of systems involving energy in the form of heat and work. A good example of
a thermodynamic system is gas confined by a piston in a cylinder. If the gas is heated, it will expand, doing
work on the piston; this is one example of how a thermodynamic system can do work.
Thermal equilibrium is an important concept in thermodynamics. When two systems are in thermal
equilibrium, there is no net heat transfer between them. This occurs when the systems are at the same
temperature. In other words, systems at the same temperature will be in thermal equilibrium with each
other.
The first law of thermodynamics relates changes in internal energy to heat added to a system and the
work done by a system. The first law is simply a conservation of energy equation:

The internal energy has the symbol U. Q is positive if heat is added to the system, and negative if heat is
removed; W is positive if work is done by the system, and negative if work is done on the system.
We've talked about how heat can be transferred, so you probably have a good idea about what Q means in
the first law. What does it mean for the system to do work? Work is simply a force multiplied by the
distance moved in the direction of the force. A good example of a thermodynamic system that can do work
is the gas confined by a piston in a cylinder, as shown in the diagram.

If the gas is heated, it will expand and push the piston up, thereby doing work on the piston. If the piston is
pushed down, on the other hand, the piston does work on the gas and the gas does negative work on the
piston. This is an example of how work is done by a thermodynamic system. An example with numbers
might make this clearer.

An example of work done

Consider a gas in a cylinder at room temperature (T = 293 K), with a volume of 0.065 m 3. The gas is
confined by a piston with a weight of 100 N and an area of 0.65 m2. The pressure above the piston is
atmospheric pressure.
(a) What is the pressure of the gas?
This can be determined from a free-body diagram of the piston. The weight of the piston acts down, and
the atmosphere exerts a downward force as well, coming from force = pressure x area. These two forces
are balanced by the upward force coming from the gas pressure. The piston is in equilibrium, so the forces
balance. Therefore:

Solving for the pressure of the gas gives:

The pressure in the gas isn't much bigger than atmospheric pressure, just enough to support the weight of
the piston.
(b) The gas is heated, expanding it and moving the piston up. If the volume occupied by the gas doubles,
how much work has the gas done?
An assumption to make here is that the pressure is constant. Once the gas has expanded, the pressure will
certainly be the same as before because the same free-body diagram applies. As long as the expansion
takes place slowly, it is reasonable to assume that the pressure is constant.
If the volume has doubled, then, and the pressure has remained the same, the ideal gas law tells us that
the temperature must have doubled too.
The work done by the gas can be determined by working out the force applied by the gas and calculating
the distance. However, the force applied by the gas is the pressure times the area, so:
W=Fs=PAs
and the area multiplied by the distance is a volume, specifically the change in volume of the gas. So, at
constant pressure, work is just the pressure multiplied by the change in volume:

This is positive because the force and the distance moved are in the same direction, so this is work done
by the gas.

The pressure-volume graph

As has been discussed, a gas enclosed by a piston in a cylinder can do work on the piston, the work being
the pressure multiplied by the change in volume. If the volume doesn't change, no work is done. If the
pressure stays constant while the volume changes, the work done is easy to calculate. On the other hand,
if pressure and volume are both changing it's somewhat harder to calculate the work done.
As an aid in calculating the work done, it's a good idea to draw a pressure-volume graph (with pressure on
the y axis and volume on the x-axis). If a system moves from one point on the graph to another and a line
is drawn to connect the points, the work done is the area underneath this line. We'll go through some
different thermodynamic processes and see how this works.

Types of thermodynamic processes

There are a number of different thermodynamic processes that can change the pressure and/or the volume
and/or the temperature of a system. To simplify matters, consider what happens when something is kept
constant. The different processes are then categorized as follows :
1. Isobaric - the pressure is kept constant. An example of an isobaric system is a gas, being slowly
heated or cooled, confined by a piston in a cylinder. The work done by the system in an isobaric
process is simply the pressure multiplied by the change in volume, and the P-V graph looks like:

2. Isochoric - the volume is kept constant. An example of this system is a gas in a box with fixed walls.
The work done is zero in an isochoric process, and the P-V graph looks like:

3. Isothermal - the temperature is kept constant. A gas confined by a piston in a cylinder is again an
example of this, only this time the gas is not heated or cooled, but the piston is slowly moved so
that the gas expands or is compressed. The temperature is maintained at a constant value by
putting the system in contact with a constant-temperature reservoir (the thermodynamic definition
of a reservoir is something large enough that it can transfer heat into or out of a system without
changing temperature).
If the volume increases while the temperature is constant, the pressure must decrease, and if the
volume decreases the pressure must increase.
4. Adiabatic - in an adiabatic process, no heat is added or removed from the system.
The isothermal and adiabatic processes should be examined in a little more detail.
Isothermal processes
In an isothermal process, the temperature stays constant, so the pressure and volume are inversely
proportional to one another. The P-V graph for an isothermal process looks like this:

The work done by the system is still the area under the P-V curve, but because this is not a straight line the
calculation is a little tricky, and really can only properly be done using calculus.

The internal energy of an ideal gas is proportional to the temperature, so if the temperature is kept fixed
the internal energy does not change. The first law, which deals with changes in the internal energy, thus
becomes 0 = Q - W, so Q = W. If the system does work, the energy comes from heat flowing into the
system from the reservoir; if work is done on the system, heat flows out of the system to the reservoir.
Adiabatic processes
In an adiabatic process, no heat is added or removed from a system. The first law of thermodynamics is
thus reduced to saying that the change in the internal energy of a system undergoing an adiabatic change
is equal to -W. Since the internal energy is directly proportional to temperature, the work becomes:

An example of an adiabatic process is a gas expanding so quickly that no heat can be transferred. The
expansion does work, and the temperature drops. This is exactly what happens with a carbon dioxide fire
extinguisher, with the gas coming out at high pressure and cooling as it expands at atmospheric pressure.

Specific heat capacity of an ideal gas

With liquids and solids that are changing temperature, the heat associated with a temperature change is
given by the equation:

A similar equation holds for an ideal gas, only instead of writing the equation in terms of the mass of the
gas it is written in terms of the number of moles of gas, and use a capital C for the heat capacity, with
units of J / (mol K):

For an ideal gas, the heat capacity depends on what kind of thermodynamic process the gas is
experiencing. Generally, two different heat capacities are stated for a gas, the heat capacity at constant
pressure (Cp) and the heat capacity at constant volume (Cv). The value at constant pressure is larger than
the value at constant volume because at constant pressure not all of the heat goes into changing the
temperature; some goes into doing work. On the other hand, at constant volume no work is done, so all
the heat goes into changing the temperature. In other words, it takes less heat to produce a given
temperature change at constant volume than it does at constant pressure, so C v < Cp.
That's a qualitative statement about the two different heat capacities, but it's very easy to examine them
quantitatively. The first law says:

We also know that PV = nRT, and at constant pressure the work done is:

Note that this applies for a monatomic ideal gas. For all gases, though, the following is true:

Another important number is the ratio of the two specific heats, represented by the Greek letter gamma
(g). For a monatomic ideal gas this ratio is: