195k views
3 votes
How can the percentage of air be determined

1 Answer

3 votes

Answer:

The composition of air can be determined by an experiment which includes passing a known volume of air, measured at a known temperature and pressure, over sufficient amount heated copper granules/powder, and measuring the volume gas remaining after the gas cools down to the temperature at which the first measurement was taken

Oxygen reacts with copper according to the following chemical reaction

2Cu (s) + O₂ (g) → 2CuO (s)

Cupper does not react with the other constituents of air

Whereby the initial volume of air was 100 cm³, we have;

Percentage of oxygen in air = 100 - The final volume reading of the container initially holding the air

When done using am appropriate experimental setup, the percentage of gases remaining equals 79% to 80%, therefore, the percentage composition of oxygen in air is between 20 and 21 percent

Step-by-step explanation:

User Ian Hopkinson
by
3.8k points