Understanding "Gay-Lussac's law of Gaseous volumes/combining volumes". So I was reading Wikipedia and stumble across this. It defines it as follows "The ratio between the volumes of the reactant gases and the gaseous products can be expressed in simple whole numbers" and then give an example of $$\ce{2H2 + O2 -> 2H2O}$$ The problem is that example does not fit the definition. The volume of reactants is $3x$ where $x$ is a variable. The volume of product is $2x$. The ratio is $\frac 3 2$, which is not a whole number. Clearly, something is wrong here or something is wrong with me. Either way, can anyone help?
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3$\begingroup$ Instead of "ratio as a whole number" should be "ratio of whole numbers" $\endgroup$– PoutnikMay 24, 2019 at 12:39
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$\begingroup$ Or, mathematically, it is a rational number. $\endgroup$– Buck Thorn ♦May 24, 2019 at 12:47
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$\begingroup$ @Poutnik Should I edit the Wikipedia? $\endgroup$– user541396May 24, 2019 at 12:51
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The ratio between the volumes of the reactant gases and the gaseous products can be expressed in simple whole numbers
Wikipedia is correct.
Expressed in, not expressed as.
$3/2$ can be expressed in simple whole numbers $3$ and $2$.
