A compressed gas has a pressure of 4.882 atm at a temperature of 8° C. The next day, the same container of gas has a pressure of 4.690 atm. What is the new temperature?

1 Answer
Meave60
Nov 29, 2015

The new temperature will be #"270. K"#, with three significant figures.

Explanation:

This is an example of Gay-Lussac's law, which states that when volume is kept constant, the pressure is directly proportional to the temperature in Kelvins.

The equation is #P_1/T_1=P_2/T_2#

Given/Known
pressure 1: #P_1="4.882 atm"#
temperature 1: #T_1=8^"o""C"+273.15="281 K"#
pressure 2: #P_2="4.690 atm"#

Unknown
temperature 2: #T_2#

Solution
Rearrange the equation to isolate #T_2# and solve.

#T_2=(T_1P_2)/P_1#

#T_2=((281"K"xx4.690"atm"))/(4.882"atm")="270. K"# (rounded to three significant figures)

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