Suppose a mixture of hydrogen and oxygen gas is exerting a pressure of 1.60 atm. If the partial pressure of oxygen in the mixture is 304 mmHg atm, what is the partial pressure of the hydrogen?
PH2 + PO2 = Ptotal
To find the partial pressure of hydrogen in the mixture, we need to use Dalton's Law of Partial Pressures, which states that the total pressure exerted by a mixture of non-reacting gases is equal to the sum of the partial pressures of the individual gases.
In this case, we are given the total pressure of the mixture as 1.60 atm and the partial pressure of oxygen as 304 mmHg. However, since the two pressures have different units (atm and mmHg), we need to convert the partial pressure of oxygen to atm before we can proceed with the calculation.
To convert the partial pressure of oxygen from mmHg to atm, we use the conversion factor: 1 atm = 760 mmHg.
So, the partial pressure of oxygen in atm is:
304 mmHg * (1 atm / 760 mmHg) = 0.4 atm
Now that we have the partial pressure of oxygen in atm, we can substitute it along with the total pressure into the formula to find the partial pressure of hydrogen:
Total pressure = partial pressure of oxygen + partial pressure of hydrogen
1.60 atm = 0.4 atm + partial pressure of hydrogen
Rearranging the equation to solve for the partial pressure of hydrogen, we get:
partial pressure of hydrogen = total pressure - partial pressure of oxygen
partial pressure of hydrogen = 1.60 atm - 0.4 atm = 1.20 atm
Therefore, the partial pressure of hydrogen in the mixture is 1.20 atm.