A container contains equal masses of H ₂, He , CO ₂ and Ne at a certain temperature. Which of the following gases exerts minimum partial pressure?

Step-by-step solution

According to Dalton’s law, the partial pressure of a gas is proportional to its mole fraction, or equivalently, to its number of moles when volume and temperature are constant. Given equal masses m of H ₂ , He , CO ₂ , and Ne , the number of moles for each is calculated as n = m M , where M is the molar mass. The molar masses are M_ H ₂ = 2 , g/mol , M_ He = 4 , g/mol , M_ CO ₂ = 44 , g/mol , and M_ Ne = 20 , g/mol . Thus, the moles are n_ H ₂ = m 2 , n_ He = m 4 , n_ CO ₂ = m 44 , and n_ Ne = m 20 . Since m is con