a scuba diver breathing normal air descend to 100 m of depth, where the toal pressure is 11 atm. What is the partial pressure of oxygen that the diver experiences at this depth?
I know that at 100m that a diver would have to breathe Heliox, meaning that the air in the tank is a combo of O2 and He.
But I don't know how to figure out the problem.
Assume it is not heliox, but atmospheric air. What percent of atmospheric pressure is the partial pressure of O2.
would that be 21%?
To calculate the partial pressure of oxygen at a certain depth, we need to know the percentage of oxygen in the air (which is approximately 21% at sea level) and the total pressure at that depth.
In this case, we are assuming that the diver is breathing normal atmospheric air, not Heliox. At a depth of 100m, we can use Boyle's Law to calculate the total pressure.
Boyle's Law states that the product of pressure and volume is constant for a given mass of gas at constant temperature. In simpler terms, as the depth increases, the pressure exerted by the water on the diver increases.
Assuming the atmospheric pressure at sea level is 1 atmosphere (atm), and the atmospheric pressure increases by 1 atm for every 10 m of depth, we can calculate the total pressure at a depth of 100m.
Total Pressure at 100m depth = Atmospheric Pressure + (Increments of Pressure per 10m of Depth * Number of 10m Increments)
Total Pressure at 100m depth = 1 atm + (1 atm/10m * 100m/10m)
Total Pressure at 100m depth = 1 atm + (1 atm * 10)
Total Pressure at 100m depth = 11 atm
Now that we have the total pressure at 100m depth (which is 11 atm in this case), we can calculate the partial pressure of oxygen.
Partial Pressure of Oxygen = Total Pressure * Percentage of Oxygen
Partial Pressure of Oxygen = 11 atm * 0.21 (21% expressed as a decimal)
Partial Pressure of Oxygen = 2.31 atm
Therefore, if the diver is breathing normal atmospheric air at a depth of 100m, the partial pressure of oxygen they would be experiencing is approximately 2.31 atm.