Alamanach said:
First of all, the Ideal Gas Law most definitely works for standard atmosphere. In fact, the fit is so good, I suspect the Ideal Gas Law may have gone into the definition of standard atmosphere.
Yes, of course the standard atmosphere is based on the ideal gas law. I've never said the ideal gas law was invalid. That is something you read into my words, repeatedly. What I did say is the the ideal gas law does not completely explain all that is going on. remember we're not talking about the standard atmosphere, we're talking deviations from the standard atmosphere.
If the ideal gas law is the "only the only correct way to understand this phenomenon", explain why barometric pressure doesn't vary in perfect proportion with temperature, every time, all the time?
Why are exceptionally cold temperatures usually associated with exceptionallyt high barometric pressure.
Example, the lowest barometric pressure ever recorded on the north american continent was 31.85" hg, at a time (jan 1989) when all of alaska was experiencing record low temps.
According to the ideal gas law, exceptionally cold temps are always, without exception, accompanied with low barometric temps, yet the reverse is usually true.
Explain this using *only* the ideal gas law.