The Myth of Ideal Gases

Your chemistry textbook is basically gaslighting you about how gases actually work. You spend hours

memorizing PV equals nRT and the Ideal Gas Law, but here is the secret the exam

doesn't tell you. Ideal gases do not exist. The formulas assume gas molecules are

like ghosts that take up zero space and never attract each other. But in the real

world, molecules are sticky and have volume. That is why real pressure is always

lower than what you calculate on the test. You are literally doing math for a

fantasy world that is impossible to replicate in nature.