1. A spaceship is found to have a tiny leak that allows the effusion of air into space. Air in the spaceship is a mixture of nitrogen (N2), oxygen (O2), argon (Ar), and trace amounts of other gases.

Question

a. Predict which of the three main gases will have the lowest rate of effusion and which will have the highest rate. Explain your answer. (1 point)

b. Predict how the percentages of the gases in the air will change over time. (1 point)

c. Argon is found to effuse through the hole at a rate of 1.6 × 10–3 mol in 215 s. How much O2 would effuse through the hole in the same amount of time? (2 points)

d. Suppose the three gases were placed at 1.00 atm and 273 K in closed containers, as shown below. A tiny hole is opened in each container, allowing each gas to diffuse into another container filled with neon gas. What is the ratio of the rate of diffusion of nitrogen to the rate of diffusion of oxygen? Is this greater than, less than, or the same as the ratio of the rates of effusion for the two gases? (2 points)
N2=
O2= all equal N2
Ar=
e. Suppose the three gases in the previous problem were initially in a container that was at very low temperature. Which of the gases would you expect to show the most deviation from ideal gas behavior? Explain your answer. (1 point)

Answer 1

All of these use Graham's Law. Look that up on Google. I will get you started with 1a.
molar mass = mm
mm N2 = 28
mm O2 = 32
mm Ar = about 40
Graham's Law is (rate gas1/rate gas 2) = [sqrt (mm gas 2/mm gas 1)]
The heaviest gas (Ar) will be the slowest and the lightest gas (N2) will be the fastest.
Post your work if you get stuck.

Answer 2

for c i think it would be 206.7 seconds

Answer 3

for c it is 0.001872 moles

Answer 4

Argon is found to effuse through the hole at a rate of 1.6 × 10–3 mol in 215 s. How much O2 would effuse through the hole in the same amount of time?