Question

a) Write down the composition of air.

(b) Give the relative amounts of the gases oxygen, nitrogen, and carbon dioxide present in the air. Based on your answer, arrange these gases in increasing order of their abundance.

Answer 1

(a) Air is a mixture of gases, water vapour and dust particles. It has many gases such as nitrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, water vapour and even dust particles.

(b) The relative amount of gases present in our atmosphere is as follows:

Oxygen – 20.9%

Nitrogen – 78%

Carbon dioxide – 0.03%

The increasing order of these gases based on their abundance is

Carbon dioxide < Oxygen < Nitrogen