MCAT General Chemistry Review - Alexander Stone Macnow, MD 2019-2020

The Gas Phase
Conclusion

In this chapter, we reviewed the basic characteristics and behaviors of gases. The ideal gas law shows the mathematical relationship among four variables associated with gases: pressure, volume, temperature, and number of moles. We examined special cases of the ideal gas law in which temperature (Boyle’s law), pressure (Charles’s law), or volume (Gay-Lussac’s law) is held constant. Henry’s law helped explain the principles behind dissolution of gases in liquids and gas exchange in biological systems. We also examined Dalton’s law, which relates the partial pressure of a gas to its mole fraction and the sum of the partial pressures of all the gases in a system to the total pressure of the system. The kinetic molecular theory of gases provided the explanation for the behaviors of ideal gases as described by the ideal gas law. Finally, we examined the ways in which real gases deviate from the predicted behaviors of ideal gases. The van der Waals equation of state is a useful equation for correcting deviations caused by molecular interactions and volumes.

From helium-filled balloons to the bubbles of carbon dioxide in a glass of soda, from the pressurized gases used for scuba diving to the air we breathe on land, gases are all around us. And yet, all the different gases that bubble, flow, and settle in and through our daily living experiences behave in remarkably similar ways. Human life is dependent on the exchange of two gases: oxygen and carbon dioxide—to that end, expect that the MCAT will frequently test gases because of their importance in our everyday lives.