Question

Question #75905

Answer 1

Sodium.

Explanation:

The idea here is that you need to use the ideal gas law equation to find a relationship between the density of the gas and its molar mass.

As you know, the ideal gas law equation establishes a relationship between pressure and volume, on one side, and number of moles and temperature on the other.

`PV = nRT`

Here `R` represents the universal gas constant and is usually given as

`R = 0.082("atm" * "L")/("mol" * "K")`

Now, the number of moles of can be written as the ration between the mass of the sample and the gas' molar mass

`n = m/M_M`

Plug this into the idea lgas law equation to g et

`PV = m/M_M * RT`

Multiply both sides of the equation by `M_M` to get

`PV * M_M = m/color(red)(cancel(color(black)(M_M))) * color(red)(cancel(color(black)(M_M))) * RT`

`PV * M_M = m * RT`

Now look what happens when you divide both sides by the volume of the gas

`(Pcolor(red)(cancel(color(black)(V))) M_M)/color(red)(cancel(color(black)(V))) = m/V * RT`

`P * M_M = m/V * RT`

But since density is defined as mass per unit of volume, you will have

`P * M_M = rho * RT`

Now plug in your values and solve this equation for `M_M`, the molar mass of the gas - do not forget to convert the temperature from degrees Celsius to Kelvin and the pressure from torr to atm!

`M_M = (rho * RT)/P`

`M_M = (2.9 * 10^(-3)"g"/color(red)(cancel(color(black)("L"))) * 0.082(color(red)(cancel(color(black)("atm"))) * color(red)(cancel(color(black)("L"))))/("mol" * color(red)(cancel(color(black)("K")))) * (1000 + 273.15)color(red)(cancel(color(black)("K"))))/((10.)/760color(red)(cancel(color(black)("atm"))))`

`M_M = "23.009 g/mol" ~~ "23 g/mol"`

Now, the important thing to realize here is that you're dealing with a gaseous element, not a compound.

The high temperature at which the element is kept is a clue - in this case, sodium has a molar mass of approximately `"23 g/mol"`, and a boiling point of about `883^@"C"`.

This means that at `1000^@"C"`, sodium atoms will exist in the gaseous state. Therefore, the element you're looking for is sodium.