Question

A can of coke contains 25 mL of carbon dioxide gas at 100kPa. If you take it on a hike up Mount Everest and the pressure decreases to 50 kPa, what will the new volume of the carbon dioxide gas in your coke can be?

Answer 1

Answer:

50 mL

Explanation:

We can solve this problem by using Boyle's Law, which states that:

"For a fixed mass of an ideal gas kept at constant temperature, the pressure of the gas is inversely proportional to its volume"

Mathematically:

$p\propto \frac{1}{V}$

where

p is the pressure of the gas

V is the volume of the gas

The equation can be rewritten as

$p_1 V_1 = p_2 V_2$

where in this problem:

$p_1 = 100 kPa$ is the initial pressure of the gas in the coke

$V_1=25 mL$ is the initial volume

$p_2=50 kPa$ is the final pressure

Solving for V2, we find the final volume:

$V_2=\frac{p_1 V_1}{p_2}=\frac{(100)(25)}{50}=50 mL$