The ideal gas law functions well under conditions when gas particles are regarded as:
-
- in constant random motion.
- point masses with zero volume.
- very far apart from one another
- devoid of intermolecular forces of attraction or repulsion.
- perfectly elastic.
Real gases, however, contain molecules that occupy a certain volume that is not negligible compared to the volume of the reaction vessel. Furthermore, intermolecular forces of attraction and repulsion between real gas molecules can be significant under certain conditions. Therefore, real gases deviate from ideality and require other equations of state to describe.