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The question makes an incorrect assumption that a gas can not condense.

For most definitions of the terms, "gas" is synonymous with "vapor". Gas can condense - I observed it thousands of times while doing my doctoral an post-doctoral research.

One definition of "vapor" is "A substance diffused or suspended in the air". In this case a vapor would include clouds and smoke where liquid droplets and/or solid particles are suspended in a gas. They would have to be so small that they will remain suspended by the movements and currents within the gas rather than drifting down out of the gas due to gravitational forces. Note that this is NOT the same as condensing

The only other case where you might distinguish between a "gas" and a "vapor" is when one applies a very limited - and not very widely used - definition of "vapor" to define it as a saturated gas. A saturated gas is one that is at the point of equilibrium with a liquid. If you define vapor in that way, then when the term gas was used it would imply that it is not at the equilibrium point. Gases only condense at the equilibrium point.

Note that when you get above the critical temperature and pressure you enter a region in the phase space which is referred to as a "supercritical fluid". Changes in pressure above the critical temperature will not cause a supercritical fluid to condense or vaporize - it will just become more dense or less dense. Likewise changes in temperature above the critical pressure will only change density of the fluid in a continuous manner - never condensing or vaporizing the fluid. It is thus legitimate to ask why a gas may condense but not a supercritical fluid, but the same is not true in trying to distinguish between a gas and a vapor.

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12y ago

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