Question

Solve without using a calculator. on a cold day near the ocean, it was found that 8 g of an unknown gas occupies a volume that is a little less than 6 l. based on this information, what is the most likely identity of the unknown gas?

Answer 1

Assuming that the gas acts like an ideal gas so that the molar volume is Vm = 22.4 L / moles, we can calculate for the number of moles.

number of moles = 6 L / (22.4 L / mol) = 0.2679 moles

 

So the molar mass of this gas is:

molar mass = 8 g / 0.2679 moles = 29.9 g/mol

 

The value is around 32 g/mol which is the molar mass of oxygen. Therefore the answer is:

O2