Molar mass and density?

Dry air (0% humidity) is approximately 78% N2, 21% O2, and 1% Ar by moles. Calculate the molar mass and density of dry air at 0 °C and 1.0 atm. Assume ideal behavior and use two significant figures in your answers.

1 Answer
Nov 19, 2016

Molar masses of constituent elements and their corresponding number of moles in air

#"Element"" ""molar mass"" "" "" "mol% #

#" "N_2" "" "28.013" g/mol"" "" "78%#

#" "O_2" "" "31.998" g/mol"" "" "21%#

#" "Ar" "" "39.948" g/mol"" "" "01%#

Taking weighted average the molar mass of air is

#M_"air"->(78xx28.013+21xx31.998+1xx39.948)/100~~28.969" g/mol"#

At STP Molar volume is #22.4"mol/L"#

#"So density of air at STP "="molar mss"/"molar volume"#

#=(28.969g/"mol")/(22.4L/"mol")~~1.293g/L#