Answer to Question #34381 in Molecular Physics | Thermodynamics for arlene

Question

what does the ideal gas law (PV = NRT) predict about the volume of a sample of gas at absolute zero? why is this prediction incorrect?

Answer 1

The prediction would be for the volume to be 0. However, as the volume gets smaller & smaller, at some point the molecules start interacting with each other (which might, for example, cause the gas to condense into a liquid). At that point, the ideal gas law does not apply anymore because one of the basic assumptions in its derivation has been violated.