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A sample of diatomic gas A has three times the mass of an equal volume of gas B under the same conditions. What is the ratio of the atomic mass of A to that of B?

1 Answer

Mar 15, 2017

The atomic mass of $A$ $"A"$ is 1.5 times the atomic mass of $B$ $"B"$ .

Explanation:

Let's say that the formula of Gas A is $A_{2}$ $"A"_2$ and the formula of Gas B is $B$ $"B"$ .

Avogadro's Law tells us that equal volumes of gases at the same temperature and pressure contain equal numbers of molecules.

Thus, if Gas A has three times the mass of an equal volume of Gas B, a molecule of Gas A must have three times the mass of an atom of Gas B.

But a molecule of Gas A contains two atoms of $A$ $"A"$ .

Hence each atom of $A$ $"A"$ has $\frac{3}{2} = 1.5$ $3/2 = 1.5$ times the mass of an atom of $B$ $"B"$ .

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