UNIT OVERVIEW

Have you ever wondered why a balloon expands when you heat it? Why car tyres need checking before a long trip on a hot day? Or why deep-sea divers must rise slowly to avoid "the bends"? The answers lie in understanding how gases behave—and remarkably, all gases follow the same simple rules.

In this unit, you will learn about the invisible motion of gas molecules and the mathematical laws that describe gas behaviour. You will discover that the air around you contains billions of molecules moving at incredible speeds, colliding with everything—including you—millions of times every second.

By the end of this unit, you will be able to:

• Explain how gas molecules move and why this creates pressure
• Apply the kinetic theory of gases to explain everyday phenomena
• Use Boyle's Law to calculate pressure-volume relationships
• Apply Charles's Law to solve temperature-volume problems
• Use Gay-Lussac's Law for pressure-temperature calculations
• Combine all three laws into one equation
• Apply the ideal gas equation ($pV = nRT$) to solve problems
• Design and interpret experiments to verify gas laws

Real-Life Applications: