When a liquid vaporizes in a closed container, gas molecules cannot escape. As these gas phase molecules move randomly about, they will occasionally collide with the surface of the condensed phase, and in some cases, these collisions will result in the molecules re-entering the condensed phase. The change from the gas phase to the liquid is called condensation. When the rate of condensation becomes equal to the rate of vaporization, neither the amount of the liquid nor the amount of the vapor...

Gas pressure is caused by force exerted by gas molecules colliding with the surfaces of objects. Although the force of each collision is very small, any surface of an appreciable area experiences a large number of collisions in a short time, which can result in high pressure.

Calorimetry is a technique used to measure the amount of heat involved in a chemical or physical process or to measure the heat transferred to or from a substance. The heat is exchanged with a calibrated and insulated device called the calorimeter. Calorimetry experiments are based on the assumption that there is no heat exchange between the insulated calorimeter and the external environment. The well-insulated calorimeters prevent the transfer of heat between the calorimeter and its external...

The equilibrium vapor pressure of a liquid is the pressure exerted by its gaseous phase when vaporization and condensation are occurring at equal rates:

A number of natural and synthetic materials exhibit selective permeation, meaning that only molecules or ions of a certain size, shape, polarity, charge, and so forth, are capable of passing through (permeating) the material. Biological cell membranes provide elegant examples of selective permeation in nature, while dialysis tubing used to remove metabolic wastes from blood is a more simplistic technological example. Regardless of how they may be fabricated, these materials are generally...

Most pressure gauges, like those on scuba tanks, are calibrated to read zero at atmospheric pressure. Readings from such gauges are called the gauge pressure, which is the pressure relative to atmospheric pressure. When the pressure inside the tank exceeds atmospheric pressure, the gauge reports a positive value. Some gauges are designed to measure negative pressure. For example, many physics experiments must take place in a vacuum chamber, a rigid chamber from which some of the air is pumped...