Written by the Fiveable Content Team • Last updated September 2025
Verified for the 2026 exam
Verified for the 2026 exam•Written by the Fiveable Content Team • Last updated September 2025
Definition
The pressure constant, often denoted as 'R' in scientific equations, is a physical constant that appears in the ideal gas law equation. It relates the energy scale to the temperature scale that occurs in thermodynamics.
Related terms
Ideal Gas Law: This is an equation of state for a hypothetical ideal gas. It describes how gases behave under varying conditions of pressure, volume, and temperature.
Thermodynamics: This is the branch of physics that deals with heat and temperature and their relation to energy and work.
Physical Constants: These are fixed numerical values that characterize certain physical properties or relations used in scientific calculations such as gravitational constant or speed of light.