Graham's law has come to denote an important class of finely divided materials. Around the time Graham did his work, the concept of molecular weight was being established largely through the measurements of gases. Daniel Bernoulli suggested in 1738 in his book Hydrodynamica that heat increases in proportion to the velocity, and thus kinetic energy, of gas particles. Italian physicist Amedeo Avogadro also suggested in 1811 that equal volumes of different gases contain equal numbers of molecules. Thus, the relative molecular weights of two gases are equal to the ratio of weights of equal volumes of the gases. Avogadro's insight together with
Relative density depending on the units. The relative density of gases is often measured with respect to dry air at a temperature of 20 °C and a pressure of 101.325 kPa absolute, which has a density of 1.205 kg/m. Relative density with respect to air can be obtained by Where "M" is the molar mass and the approximately equal sign is used because equality pertains only if 1 mol of the gas and 1 mol of air occupy the same volume at a given temperature and pressure i.e. they are both Ideal gases. Ideal behaviour is usually only seen at very low