In 1811, Amedeo Avogadro verified that equal volumes of pure gases contain the same number of particles. His theory was not generally accepted until 1858 when another Italian chemist Stanislao Cannizzaro was able to explain non-ideal exceptions. For his work with gases a century prior, the physical constant that bears his name (the Avogadro constant) is the number of atoms per mole of elemental carbon-12 (). This specific number of gas particles, at standard temperature and pressure (ideal gas law) occupies 22.40 liters, which is referred to as the molar volume.
Avogadro's law states that the volume occupied by an ideal gas is proportional to the amount of substance in the volume. This gives rise to the molar volume of a gas, which at STP is 22.4 dm/mol (liters per mole). The relation is given by
where n is the amount of substance of gas (the number of molecules divided by the Avogadro constant).