What steps and formulas would you use to solve the question "At what Kelvin temperature will a sample of gas occupy 12 liters if the same sample occupies 8 liters at 27 °C?"

2 Answers
Feb 24, 2015

You'd use Charles' Law, which links an ideal gas' volume to its temperature if pressure and number of moles are kept constant.

The mathematical formula is this

V1T1=V2T2

In your case,

V1=8.0L,
T1=273.15+27=300.15 K, and
V2=12.0 L

Therefore,

T2=V2V1T1=12.0 L8.0 L300.15 K=450 K

If pressure and number of moles are constant, an increase in volume means an increase in temperature and vice versa.

SIDE NOTE All you really need to know is the ideal gas law equation, PV = nRT, since you can apply it to all sorts of conditions; in your case, you'd get two equations to describe the two stages - once again, number of moles and pressure are constant

PV1=nRT1 and PV2=nRT2

DIvide these two equations and you'll get the expression for Charles' law again

V1V2=T1T2, or V1T1=V2T2

Feb 24, 2015

You would follow these steps:

VT

So:

V1T1=V2T2

You need to convert to Kelvin degrees by adding 273:

V1=8L
T1=27+273=300K
V2=12L
T2 is unknown.

T2=V2×T1V1

T2=12×3008=450K