Article
Article
Charles' law
Article By:
Rockett, Frank H. Engineering Consultant, Charlottesville, Virginia.
Last reviewed:May 2019
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1036/1097-8542.125500
A thermodynamic law, also known as Gay-Lussac's law, which states that at constant pressure the volume of a fixed mass or quantity of gas varies directly with the absolute temperature. As such, Charles' law, V = kT, describes how gases expand when heated. Conversely, at constant volume the gas pressure varies directly with the absolute temperature. J. A. Charles and J. L. Gay-Lussac independently discovered the relation for an ideal gas. The relation is a useful and close approximation. See also: Gas; Kinetic theory of matter
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