What does the term 'partial pressure' refer to in a gas mixture?
Practice Questions
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Q1
What does the term 'partial pressure' refer to in a gas mixture?
The pressure exerted by a single gas in a mixture
The total pressure of the gas mixture
The pressure of the gas at absolute zero
The pressure of the gas when it is liquefied
Partial pressure is the pressure that a single gas in a mixture would exert if it occupied the entire volume alone at the same temperature.
Questions & Step-by-step Solutions
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Q
Q: What does the term 'partial pressure' refer to in a gas mixture?
Solution: Partial pressure is the pressure that a single gas in a mixture would exert if it occupied the entire volume alone at the same temperature.
Steps: 5
Step 1: Understand that a gas mixture is made up of different gases, like air which contains oxygen, nitrogen, and carbon dioxide.
Step 2: Know that each gas in the mixture has its own pressure, which is the force it exerts on the walls of its container.
Step 3: The term 'partial pressure' refers to the pressure that one specific gas would have if it were the only gas in the container.
Step 4: Imagine if you took just one gas from the mixture and filled the entire container with it at the same temperature; the pressure it would exert is its partial pressure.
Step 5: Remember that the total pressure of the gas mixture is the sum of the partial pressures of all the gases in it.