Question

In preparation for a demonstration, your professor brings a 1.50−L bottle of sulfur dioxide into the lecture hall before class to allow the gas to reach room temperature. If the pressure gauge reads 488 psi and the lecture hall is 23°C, how many moles of sulfur dioxide are in the bottle? In order to solve this problem, you will first need to calculate the pressure of the gas. Hint: The gauge reads zero when 14.7 psi of gas remains.

Answer 1

2.05 moles

Step-by-step explanation:

Considering it as an ideal gas, we must use the ideal gas law:

PV = nRT, where P is the pressure, V is the volume, n is the number of moles, R is the gas constant (0.082 atm*L/mol*K), and T is the temperature.

If the gauge reads zero when 14.7 psi of gas remains, it means that the pressure must be equal to atmospheric pressure, so 1 atm = 14.7 psi.

P = 488 psi * 1atm/14.7psi = 33.20 atm

T = 23ºC + 273 = 296 K

33.20*1.50 = n*0.082*296

24.272n = 49.8

n = 2.05 moles