Help please with Carbon analysis. An air bubble accidentallyy enter the CO2-collection graduated cylinder after the completion of the reaction. How does this error affect the reported moles of CO2(g) collected--too high, too low, or unaffected? Explain.
if an air bubble accidentally enters the CO 2 collection graduated cylinder after the reaction is completed, the moles of CO 2 collected would be affected because the volume of CO 2 would be reported too high, if the volume is reported high, the moles would be reported too high as well
The presence of an air bubble in the CO2-collection graduated cylinder after the completion of the reaction would affect the reported moles of CO2(g) collected. Specifically, it would result in the reported moles of CO2 being too low.
When carbon dioxide is collected in a graduated cylinder, it displaces the air originally present in the cylinder. The volume of the carbon dioxide collected is measured by reading the graduated cylinder's markings. However, if there is an air bubble present in the cylinder, it takes up some of the volume that should have been occupied by carbon dioxide molecules.
As a result, the reported moles of CO2 collected will be lower than the actual amount present. The presence of the air bubble reduces the volume available for CO2, leading to an underestimation of the moles collected and an erroneously low reported value.
To determine how the accidental entry of an air bubble into the CO2-collection graduated cylinder affects the reported moles of CO2 collected, we need to understand the behavior of gases and the impact of the air bubble on the measurements.
Gases behave ideally under certain conditions, one of which is low pressure. In our case, the collection of CO2 gas takes place in the graduated cylinder, where the pressure is relatively low. Under these conditions, based on Dalton's Law of Partial Pressure, the total pressure inside the cylinder is the sum of the partial pressures of all the gases present.
When the reaction is complete, the collected gas should consist only of CO2, assuming there are no other gases involved in the reaction. However, if an air bubble accidentally enters the cylinder, it would introduce a mixture of gases, including nitrogen (N2), oxygen (O2), carbon dioxide (CO2), and trace amounts of other gases.
Since the partial pressure of CO2 contributes to the total pressure, the presence of the air bubble will increase the total pressure inside the graduated cylinder. This, in turn, will affect the measured volume of CO2 because the volume reading is directly influenced by the total pressure.
As a result, the reported moles of CO2 collected will be too high. This occurs because the increased pressure from the air bubble artificially inflates the volume of CO2 recorded. Thus, when calculating the moles of CO2 using the ideal gas law equation (PV = nRT, where P is the total pressure, V is the volume, n is the number of moles, R is the gas constant, and T is the temperature), the calculated value will be higher than the actual moles of CO2 present.
To avoid this error and obtain accurate results, it is essential to ensure that no air bubbles enter the CO2-collection cylinder during the process.