|
 Kinetic Theory
|
The physical nature of a gas is quite different from a liquid
or solid, partly because of the large amount of space between the
particles of gas. Solids hold their own shape and liquids adopt the shapes of their containers but gases expand to fill their containers. Of the three phases of matter, gases therefore require more specification to describe "amounts" of material. The physical behavior of gases attracted early interest in the scientific community which resulted over time in a number of gas "laws" and a way of thinking about gases which is part of what we today call kinetic theory.   There are three more or less "obvious" variables which are related to our ability to quantify amounts of gas:
|
    |