A tank contains helium gas at 490 mm Hg, nitrogen gas at 0.75 atm, and neon at 520 torr. What is the total pressure in atm?

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Answer 1 · 2016-07-16T04:29:49

Approx. 2 atmospheres.

The total pressure is the sum of the individual partial pressures of each gas. The gases were quoted with unrealistically different units.

#1# #"atmosphere = 760 mm Hg = 760 Torr"#. You must convert the partial pressures to common units, and simply add them up.

And so......

#P_"Total"=P_(He)+P_(N_2)+P_(Ne)#, and we can convert all the units to atmospheres......

#P_"He"=(490*"Torr")/(760*"Torr"*atm^-1)=0.645*atm#.

#P_(N_2)=0.75*atm#.

#P_"Ne"=(520*"Torr")/(760*"Torr"*atm^-1)=0.684*atm#.

#P_"Total"={0.645+0.75+0.684}*atm=2.08*atm#.