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)

Related questions
See all questions in Gay Lussac's Law
Impact of this question
6854 views around the world
You can reuse this answer
Creative Commons License