ABSTRACT
The gas laws (see Topic A1) were empirically developed from experimental observations. The kinetic theory of gases attempts to reach this same result from a model of the molecular nature of gases. A gas is described as a collection of particles in motion, with the macroscopic physical properties of the gas following from this premise. Pressure is regarded as the result of molecular impacts with the walls of the container, and temperature is related to the average translational energy of the molecules.
