What is the formula of partial pressure?

1 Answer
May 25, 2015

For an ideal gas, the partial pressure relationship is called Henry's Law. It's just the total pressure P_"tot"Ptot multiplied by the mole fraction x_jxj of the mixture that is occupied by component jj.

P_j = x_jP_"tot"Pj=xjPtot

You're really just multiplying the total pressure by the percentage corresponding to one component. So if the total pressure was 11 atm, then if the partial pressure of component jj is 0.80.8 atm, its mole fraction is (0.8 cancel(atm))/ (1 cancel(atm)) = 0.8.