An idealized gas consisting of elastic and non-interacting molecules in which the effective volume occupied by the molecules is zero and obeys the ideal gas law pV = nRT where p is the pressure, V is the volume, n is the number of moles, R is the universal gas constant, 8.314 J mol−1 K−1, and T is the absolute temperature. Gases with a low density and far from their critical point can be approximated as being ideal in which a gas occupies 22.4 litres per mole at 1 atmosphere and 273 K. Compare real gas.