Final answer:
Given the total pressure of a gas mixture, you can calculate the partial pressure of each gas using its mole fraction and the total pressure. Partial pressures add up to the total pressure in ideal gas mixtures.
Step-by-step explanation:
When given the total pressure of a mixture of two gases, you can calculate the partial pressure of each gas if the mole fractions are known. In a mixture of ideal gases, the total pressure is the sum of the individual pressures that each gas would exert if it were alone in the container, assuming constant temperature and volume. This follows from the ideal gas law which states that for ideal gases, the pressure is directly proportional to the number of moles of gas present.
To calculate the partial pressure of a gas in a mixture, we can use the formula Pi = XiPtotal, where Pi is the partial pressure of gas i and Xi is the mole fraction of gas i. The mole fraction is determined by dividing the number of moles of gas i by the total number of moles in the mixture. Therefore, if we know the mole fractions of the gases, we can calculate their partial pressures.
For example, if gas A and gas B are in a container, and the mole fraction of gas A (XA) is 0.5, and the total pressure (Ptotal) is 1 atm, then the partial pressure of gas A would be 0.5 atm. This illustrates how partial pressures are determined and contribute to the total pressure of the gas mixture.