Question

A sealed vessel contains 0.5 moles of oxygen, 0.1 moles of carbon dioxide, and 0.4 moles of nitrogen gas. The total pressure of the gas mixture is 5 atm. What is the partial pressure of the carbon dioxide?

• A. 0.5 atm
• B. 2.5 atm
• C. 2.0 atm
• D. 0.1 atm
• E. 5 atm

Answer 1

Answer: (A)

0.5 atm

The mole fraction of carbon dioxide $=\frac{\text{number of moles of carbon dioxide}}{\text{total number of moles of mixture}}=\frac{0.1}{0.5+0.1+0.4}=0.1$

The partial pressure of carbon dioxide $=\text{mole fraction of carbon dioxide}\times \text{total pressure}=0.1\times 5=0.5$ atm.