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How many mol of CH4 are in a 150 L
tank exerting a pressure of 20.0 atm when the temperature
is 24.0 degrees Celsius?
Problem Solving Strategy:
Since this is a problem about a gas, and all the data
provided are physical properties we conclude it is an Ideal Gas Law Problem
and we need to construct a table to associate values in the problem statement
with the variables in the Ideal Gas Law (PV = nRT).
So the table would now look like;
|
P
|
V
|
n
|
R
|
T
|
Condition
|
|
20.0 atm
|
150 L
|
?
|
0.0821 L atm mol-1 K-1
|
297 K
|
1
|
Now substitute the values for each variable into the Ideal Gas Equation;
PV = nRT
Substituting;
(20.0 atm) (150
L) = n (0.0821 L atm mol-1 K-1) (297
K)
Solving for the unknown, n, in the problem;
n = 123 mol CH4
Click here to see a summary of
the steps followed to solve this problem.