Question

The air inside a tank is a mixture of nitrogen, carbon dioxide, oxygen, and helium. Each individual gas exerts a pressure of 100 kPa, 24 kPa, 30 kPa, and 26 kPa respectively. What is the total pressure of the air inside the tank?

Answer 1

To calculate the total pressure of the system, we use Dalton's Law of partial pressure where it says that the total pressure of the gases in a system is the sum of the partial pressures of each component in the mixture. Therefore,

P = 100 kPa + 24 kPa + 30 kPa + 26 kPa = 180 kPa

the total pressure in the system is 180 kPa.