If we put a gas in this syringe, the mass of the gas is proportional to its molecular weight if we keep T, P and V constant.
It is easy to keep T, P, and V constant. We need a way to get the value of the proportionality constant, c, in the equation:
MW = c*g
There are two ways to determine the value of c in this equation.
1. Measure the mass of several gases of known molecular weight.
2. Calculate c from theory.
Method 1 works best because it avoids errors in measuring V, T, and P.