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Gas pressure

If the of a container with a gas inside stays the same, the pressure of a gas increases as its increases.

When hotter, the gas particles will be travelling faster and will collide with the walls of the container more frequently and with more .

This means that there is a relationship between pressure and temperature. If a pressure gauge is connected to a flask of air and the flask is heated, a graph of pressure against temperature can be produced.

Graph of pressure against temperature. The line starts at 0 degrees C and three units of pressure, rising steadily to six units of pressure at 100 degrees C.

Kelvin temperatures

As the temperature of a gas increases, the pressure increases, showing a linear relationship between the two. If the temperature axis is rescaled, the graph shows that pressure is directly to temperature.

The rescaling needed is to put the zero on the temperature scale at -273 掳C. This is an alternative temperature scale called the Kelvin (or 'absolute') scale of temperature. This new zero of temperature is called . At absolute zero, the average kinetic energy of the particles is zero and they stop moving.

Each degree Celsius is the same size as one kelvin. Raising the temperature by one degree Celsius also increases the value on the kelvin temperature scale by one.

TemperatureCelsius scaleKelvin scale
Boiling water100掳颁373 K
Freezing water0掳颁273 K
Absolute zero-273掳颁0 K
Typical room temperature20掳颁293 K
TemperatureBoiling water
Celsius scale100掳颁
Kelvin scale373 K
TemperatureFreezing water
Celsius scale0掳颁
Kelvin scale273 K
TemperatureAbsolute zero
Celsius scale-273掳颁
Kelvin scale0 K
TemperatureTypical room temperature
Celsius scale20掳颁
Kelvin scale293 K
  • To convert 掳C into K, add 273.
  • To convert K into 掳C, subtract 273.