A closed food jar has a fixed volume at STP. What would the new pressure be at 45°C?

1 Answer
Mar 15, 2016

318kPa

Explanation:

Recall that Gay-Lussac's Law states that pressure is directly proportional to temperature , as long as the volume and number of moles of the gas remain constant.

Gay-Lussac's Law can be expressed mathematically with the formula,

color(blue)(|bar(ul(color(white)(a/a)P_1/T_1=P_2/T_2color(white)(a/a)|)))

where:
P_1=initial pressure
T_1=inital temperature (Kelvin)
P_2=final pressure
T_2=final temperature (Kelvin)

Determining the Final Pressure
1. Start by determining the values for each variable in the formula.

STP conditions (initial):
initial pressure color(orange)((P_1)): color(orange)(101.325kPa)
initial temperature color(purple)((T_1)): color(purple)(273.15K)

New conditions (final)
final pressure color(teal)((P_2)): color(teal)(P_2)
final temperature color(magenta)((T_2)): 45^@C+273.15=color(magenta)(318.15K)

2. Rearrange Gay-Lussac's formula in terms of color(teal)(P_2).

color(orange)(P_1)/color(purple)(T_1)=color(teal)(P_2)/color(magenta)(T_2)

color(teal)(P_2)=(color(magenta)(T_2))((color(orange)(P_1))/(color(purple)(T_1)))

3. Using these values, substitute them into the rearranged formula.

color(teal)(P_2)=(color(magenta)(318.15K))(color(orange)(101.325kPa)/color(purple)(273.15K))

4. Solve for color(teal)(P_2).

color(teal)(P_2)=(color(magenta)(318.15color(red)cancelcolor(magenta)K))(color(orange)(101.325kPa)/color(purple)(273.15color(red)cancelcolor(purple)K))

color(teal)(P_2)=118.0177512kPa

color(teal)(P_2)~~color(green)(|bar(ul(color(white)(a/a)318kPacolor(white)(a/a)|)))

:., the final pressure is 318kPa.