# Dalton's law

An illustration of Dalton's law using the gases of air at sea level.

In chemistry and physics, Dalton's law (also called Dalton's law of partial pressures) states that in a mixture of non-reacting gases, the total pressure exerted is equal to the sum of the partial pressures of the individual gases.[1] This empirical law was observed by John Dalton in 1801 and published in 1802.[2] and is related to the ideal gas laws.

## Formula

Mathematically, the pressure of a mixture of non-reactive gases can be defined as the summation:

${\displaystyle p_{\text{total}}=\sum _{i=1}^{n}p_{i}}$       or      ${\displaystyle p_{\text{total}}=p_{1}+p_{2}+p_{3}+\cdots +p_{n}}$

where p1, p2, ..., pn represent the partial pressures of each component.[1]

${\displaystyle p_{i}=p_{\text{total}}x_{i}}$

where xi is the mole fraction of the ith component in the total mixture of n components.

## Volume-based concentration

The relationship below provides a way to determine the volume-based concentration of any individual gaseous component

${\displaystyle p_{i}=p_{\text{total}}c_{i}}$

where ci is the concentration of the ith component.

Dalton's law is not strictly followed by real gases, with the deviation increasing with pressure. Under such conditions the volume occupied by the molecules becomes significant compared to the free space between them. In particular, the short average distances between molecules increases intermolecular forces between gas molecules enough to substantially change the pressure exerted by them, an effect not included in the ideal gas model.

• Raoult's law – A law of thermodynamics for vapour pressure of a mixture
• Henry's law – Relation of equilibrium solubility of a gas in a liquid to its partial pressure in the contacting gas phase
• Amagat's law – Gas law describing volume of a gas mixture
• Boyle's law – Relationship between pressure and volume in a gas at constant temperature
• Combined gas law
• Gay-Lussac's law – Relationship between pressure and temperature of a gas at constant volume.
• Mole (unit) – SI unit of amount of substance, Avogadro number of elementary entities
• Partial pressure – Pressure attributed to a component gas in a mixture
• Vapour pressure

## References

1. ^ a b Silberberg, Martin S. (2009). Chemistry: the molecular nature of matter and change (5th ed.). Boston: McGraw-Hill. p. 206. ISBN 9780073048598.
2. ^ J. Dalton (1802), "Essay IV. On the expansion of elastic fluids by heat," Memoirs of the Literary and Philosophical Society of Manchester, vol. 5, pt. 2, pages 595–602; see page 600.