Question #fc3a5

1 Answer
Jan 4, 2017

The molar solubilities of "NH"_3 and "CO"_2 in water are 30 mol/L and 0.017 mol/L, respectively. The ratio of their solubilities is 1800:1.

Explanation:

Henry's law states that the solubility of a gas (C) in a liquid is directly proportional to the partial pressure of the gas (P) above the liquid:

color(blue)(bar(ul(|color(white)(a/a) C = kPcolor(white)(a/a)|)))" "

where

k is a proportionality constant called Henry's law constant

If the two gases are in equal proportion,

P_"NH₃" = P_"CO₂" = "0.5 atm"

Then

C_"NH₃" = kP_"NH₃" = "61 mol·L"^"-1"color(red)(cancel(color(black)("atm" ^"-1"))) × 0.5 color(red)(cancel(color(black)("atm"))) = "30 mol/L"

C_"CO₂" = kP_"CO₂" = "0.034 mol·L"^"-1"color(red)(cancel(color(black)("atm" ^"-1"))) × 0.5 color(red)(cancel(color(black)("atm"))) = "0.017 mol/L"

C_"NH₃"/C_"CO₂" = (30 color(red)(cancel(color(black)("mol/L"))))/(0.017 color(red)(cancel(color(black)("mol/L")))) = 1800