How fast does hydrogen gas diffuse relative to helium?

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Answer 1 · 2017-11-25T13:23:56

Well what is the #"Graham cracker law of diffusion?"#

#"Graham's law of diffusion"# states that the rate of diffusion is INVERSELY proportional to the square root of the molecular masses of each gas....

i.e. #"Rate 1"/"Rate 2"=sqrt{"Molecular mass of gas 2"/"Molecular mass of gas 1"}#

And so....

#"Rate of diffusion of dihydrogen"/"Rate of diffusion of helium"prop#

#sqrt{"Molecular mass of helium"/"Molecular mass of dihydrogen"}#

#=sqrt{(4.0*g*mol^-1)/(2.0*g*mol^-1)}=sqrt2#

And thus dihydrogen will diffuse approx. 1.4 times faster than the more massive helium....