Three bulbs are connected by tubing, and the tubing is evacuated. The volume of the tubing is 27.0 mL. The first bulb has a volume of 37.0 mL and contains 5.65 atm of argon, the second bulb has a volume of 250 mL and contains 2.16 atm of neon, and the third bulb has a volume of 48.0 mL and contains 8.93 atm of hydrogen. If the stopcocks (valves) that isolate all three bulbs are opened, what is the final pressure of the whole system in atm?

1 answer

A multistep problem but simple to do.
Use P1V1 = P2V2. For example, calculate the total volume by adding the volumes of each bulb. Don't forget to add in the volume of the tubing. Bulb 1 is 37.0 mL with P of 5.65 atm.
So P1 is 5.65, V1 is 37.0 mL, V2 is the total volume and you calculate P2 which the partial pressure of Ar under the new conditions. Do that for each bulb, then add the partial pressures (the P2 values) of each gas to find the total pressure of the system.