Q5.36P - Chemistry: Molecular Nature Of Matter And Change

Question

Why can we use a gas mixture, such as air, to study the general behavior of an ideal gas under ordinary conditions?

Step-by-Step Solution

Answer

We can use air to study the general behaviour of ideal gas because the compressibility value of air at ordinary condition is nearly 0.99.

Step 1: Ideal gas law

The ideal gas law equation is,

 

 $\mathbf{PV}\mathbf{=}\mathbf{nRT}$

 

Here, P is pressure, V is volume, n is the number of moles, and  T is temperature.

 

The compressibility factor is used for checking the deviation of the gas from ideal to real behavoir.

 

 data-custom-editor="chemistry" $\mathrm{Compressibility}\mathrm{factor}\mathbf{Z}=\frac{\mathrm{PV}}{\mathrm{nRT}}$

 

In this case of ideal gas the compressibility factor will be 1.

Step 2: Behaviour of air

Air is a mixture of nitrogen, oxygen and argon gases.

 

The air behaves as ideal gas because the compressibility factor of air at standard condition is nearly 0.99.

 

That’s why we can use gas mixture such as air to study the general behaviour of ideal gas.