A container with a volume of #"16 L"# contains a gas with a temperature of #"100 K"#. If the temperature of the gas changes to #"480 K"# without any change in pressure, what must the container's new volume be?

1 Answer
May 20, 2016

The volume after the increase in temperature will be 77 L.

Explanation:

This is an example of Charles' law which states that at constant pressure, the volume of a gas varies directly with the temperature in Kelvins. This means that when the volume increases, so does the temperature and vice versa. The equation to use is #V_1/T_1=V_2/T_2#.

#V_1="16 L"#
#T_1="100 K"#
#T_2="480 K"#
#V_2=color(red)"unknown"#

Solution
Rearrange the equation to isolate #V_2#. Substitute the given values into the equation and solve.

#V_1/T_1=V_2/T_2#

#V_2=(V_1T_2)/T_1#

#V_2=(16"L" * 480cancel"K")/(100cancel"K")="77 L"# (rounded to two significant figures)