If the capacity of the lungs of an adult were 3.8 L, how many moles of air would the lungs contain at body temperature and atmospheric pressure?

Question

asked Apr 25, 2020 174k views

1 Answer

Frexuz · Answer 1 · 2020-04-29T23:59:03+0000

Answer:

Step-by-step explanation:

We can solve this problem using the ideal gas law

$P \ V = \ n \ R \ T$

where P is the pressure, V the volume, n the number of moles, R the ideal gas constant and T the temperature.

We can use the atmospheric pressure as 1 atm, and the body temperature as 36.5 °C, in Kelvin this is:

$T_(body) = 36.5 \° C = (36.5 + 273.15) K = 309.65 \ K$

The ideal gas constant is:

$R = 0.082057 (L \ atm)/( K \ mol)$

taking all this in consideration, the number of moles will be:

$n = (P \ V)/(  R \ T )$

$n = \frac{1 \ atm * 3.8 \ L  }{ 0.082057 (L \ atm)/( K \ mol)$ * 309.65 \ K } [/tex]

$n = 0.14955 \ mol$