A sample of air has a volume of 140.0 mL at 67°C . At what temperature will its volume be 50.0 mL at constant pressure?

1 Answer
Jan 3, 2016

"121 K"121 K

Explanation:

Volume and temperature have a direct relationship when pressure and number of moles are kept constant - this is known as Charles' Law.

What that means is that when pressure and number of moles are kept constant, increasing the temperature will result in an increase in volume.

Likewise, a decrease in temperature will result in a decrease in volume.

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In your case, the volume of the gas decreased by a factor of about 33, from "140.0 mL"140.0 mL to "50.0 mL"50.0 mL. That means that you should expect the temperature to lower by the same factor of about 33.

Mathematically, this can be written as

color(blue)(V_1/T_1 = V_2/T_2)" "V1T1=V2T2 , where

V_1V1, T_1T1 - the volume and temperature of the gas at an initial state
V_2V2, T_2T2 - the volume and temperature of the gas at a final state

It is important to remember that the temperature of the gas must be expressed in Kelvin. The initial temperature of the gas will be

T_1 = (273.15 + 67.0)"K" = "340.15 K"T1=(273.15+67.0)K=340.15 K

Rearrange the above equation to solve for T_2T2

V_1/T_1 = V_2/T_2 implies T_2 = V_2/V_1 * T_1V1T1=V2T2T2=V2V1T1

T_2 = (50.0 color(red)(cancel(color(black)("mL"))))/(140.0color(red)(cancel(color(black)("mL")))) * "340.15 K"

T_2 = "121.48 K"

Rounded to three sig figs, the answer will be

T_2 = color(green)("121 K")

If you want, you can express this in degrees Celsius

T_2 = 121 - 273.15 = -152^@"C"