Question

A container holds 1.42 moles of oxygen gas and 2.67 moles of argon gas. If the total pressure is3.1 atm, what is the partial pressure of the oxygen gas?

Answer 1

The partial pressure of oxygen is calculated as approximately 1.08atm

Partial Pressure

This is the pressure exerted on the containers by the individual gases.

To calculate the partial pressure of oxygen, let's write down our data.

`\begin{gathered} n_(o2)=1.42\text{moles} \\ n_(Ag)=2.67\text{moles} \\ P=3.1\text{atm} \end{gathered}`

The total numbers of moles is

`1.42+2.67=4.09mols_{}`

Mole fraction of oxygen is

`(1.42)/(4.09)=0.347`

The partial pressure of a gas is calculated as the product between the mole fraction and the total pressure of the gas

`\begin{gathered} P_(o2)=n_x* P \\ P_(o2)=0.347*3.1 \\ P_(o2)=1.0757\text{atm} \end{gathered}`

The partial pressure of oxygen is calculated as approximately 1.08atm