What is "ideal gas"

n. (context physics English) a hypothetical gas, whose molecules exhibit no interaction, and undergo elastic collision with each other and with the walls of the container

n. a hypothetical gas with molecules of negligible size that exert no intermolecular forces [syn: perfect gas]

An ideal gas is a theoretical gas composed of many randomly moving point particles that do not interact except when they collide elastically. The ideal gas concept is useful because it obeys the ideal gas law, a simplified equation of state, and is amenable to analysis under statistical mechanics. One mole of an ideal gas has a volume of 22.4 litres at STP as defined by IUPAC.

At normal conditions such as standard temperature and pressure, most real gases behave qualitatively like an ideal gas. Many gases such as nitrogen, oxygen, hydrogen, noble gases, and some heavier gases like carbon dioxide can be treated like ideal gases within reasonable tolerances. Generally, a gas behaves more like an ideal gas at higher temperature and lower pressure, as the potential energy due to intermolecular forces becomes less significant compared with the particles' kinetic energy, and the size of the molecules becomes less significant compared to the empty space between them.

The ideal gas model tends to fail at lower temperatures or higher pressures, when intermolecular forces and molecular size become important. It also fails for most heavy gases, such as many refrigerants, and for gases with strong intermolecular forces, notably water vapor. At high pressures, the volume of a real gas is often considerably greater than that of an ideal gas. At low temperatures, the pressure of a real gas is often considerably less than that of an ideal gas. At some point of low temperature and high pressure, real gases undergo a phase transition, such as to a liquid or a solid. The model of an ideal gas, however, does not describe or allow phase transitions. These must be modeled by more complex equations of state. The deviation from the ideal gas behaviour can be described by a dimensionless quantity, the compressibility factor, .

The ideal gas model has been explored in both the Newtonian dynamics (as in " kinetic theory") and in quantum mechanics (as a " gas in a box"). The ideal gas model has also been used to model the behavior of electrons in a metal (in the Drude model and the free electron model), and it is one of the most important models in statistical mechanics.