Sorsogon National High School

SELF-DIRECTED LEARNING ACTIVITY SHEET IN GENERAL CHEMISTRY 1 (MODULE 10)

2nd Quarter; School Year 2020-2021

Name of Learner: ____________________________ Grade Level & Section: _________________

DALTON’S LAW OF PARTIAL PRESSURES

I. LEARNING OBJECTIVES:

At the end lesson, the learners are able to:

• Use Dalton’s law of partial pressures to relate mole fraction and partial pressure
of gases in a mixture. (STEM_GC11DLIi-47)

II. PRESENTATION OF THE LESSON:

In day-to-day life, we measure gas pressure when we use a barometer to check the
atmospheric pressure outside or a tire gauge to measure the pressure in a bike tube. When we
do this, we are measuring a macroscopic physical property of a large number of gas molecules
that are invisible to the naked eye. On the molecular level, the pressure we are measuring comes
from the force of individual gas molecules colliding with other objects, such as the walls of their
container.
Let's take a closer look at pressure from a molecular perspective and learn how Dalton's Law
helps us calculate total and partial pressures for mixtures of gases.

DALTONS’ LAW OF PARTIAL PRESSURE

➢ States that the total pressure of a

mixture of gases is just the sum of the
pressures that each gas would exert if
it were present alone.
➢ Consider the case of gases in Figure
10.1, which two gases of A and B are
in a container of volume V.
The pressure exerted by gas A,
according to the ideal gas equation, is

𝑛𝐴 𝑅𝑇
𝑃𝐴 = Figure 10. 1 Schematic Illustration of Dalton’s law of partial pressure
𝑉
where nA is the number of moles of A present. Similarly, the pressure exerted by gas B is
𝑛𝐵 𝑅𝑇
𝑃𝐵 =
𝑉
➢ In a mixture of gases A and B, the total pressure PT is the result of the collisions of both types
of molecules, A and B, with the walls of the container. Thus, according to Dalton’s law,

𝑃𝑇 = 𝑃𝐴 + 𝑃𝐵
𝑛𝐴 𝑅𝑇 𝑛𝐵 𝑅𝑇
= +
𝑉 𝑉
𝑅𝑇
= (𝑛𝐴 + 𝑛𝐵 )
𝑉
𝑛𝑅𝑇
=
𝑉

No portion of this activity learning sheet may be reproduced without the expressed consent of the writer,
and of Sorsogon National High School. January 19, 2021
 where n, the total number of moles of gases present, is given by n = nA + nB, and PA and PB are
the partial pressures of gases A and B, respectively. For a mixture of gases, then, PT depends only
on the total number of moles of gas present, not on the nature of the gas molecules.

In general, the total pressure of a mixture of gases is given by

𝑃𝑇 = 𝑃1 + 𝑃2 + 𝑃3 . . . .

where P1, P2, P3, . . . are the partial pressures of components 1, 2, 3, . . . . To see how each partial
pressure is related to the total pressure, consider again the case of a mixture of two gases A and
B. Dividing PA by PT, we obtain
𝑃𝐴 𝑛𝐴 𝑅𝑇/𝑉
=
𝑃𝑇 (𝑛𝐴 + 𝑛𝐵 )𝑅𝑇/𝑉
𝑛𝐴
=
(𝑛𝐴 + 𝑛𝐵 )
= 𝑋𝐴

where XA is called the mole fraction of A. The mole fraction is a dimensionless quantity that
expresses the ratio of the number of moles of one component to the number of moles of all
components present. In general, the mole fraction of component i in a mixture is given by
𝑛𝑖
𝑋𝑖 =
𝑛𝑇
where ni and nT are the number of moles of component i and the total number of moles
present, respectively. The mole fraction is always smaller than 1. We can now express the
partial pressure of A as
𝑃𝐴
(𝑃𝑇 ) ( = 𝑋𝐴 ) (𝑃𝑇 )
𝑃𝑇

𝑃𝐴 = 𝑋𝐴 𝑃𝑇
Similarly,
𝑃𝐵 = 𝑋𝐵 𝑃𝑇
Note that the sum of the mole fractions for a mixture of gases must be unity. If only two
components are present, then
𝒏𝑨 𝒏𝑩
𝑿𝑨 + 𝑿𝑩 = + =𝟏
(𝒏𝑨 + 𝒏𝑩 ) (𝒏𝑨 + 𝒏𝑩 )

Sample Problem:
A mixture of gases contains 4.46 moles of neon (Ne), 0.74 mole of argon (Ar), and
2.15 moles of xenon (Xe). Calculate the partial pressures of the gases if the total
pressure is 2.00 atm at a certain temperature.
Strategy: What is the relationship between the partial pressure of a gas and the total
gas pressure? How do we calculate the mole fraction of a gas?
Solution: The partial pressure of Ne (𝑃𝑁𝑒 ) is equal to the product of its mole fraction
(𝑋𝑁𝑒 ) and the total pressure (𝑃𝑇 ).
𝑃𝑁𝑒 = 𝑋𝑁𝑒 𝑃𝑇

We need to calculate the mole fraction of Ne first:

𝑛𝑁𝑒 4.46 𝑚𝑜𝑙 4.46 𝑚𝑜𝑙
𝑋𝑁𝑒 = = = = 𝟎. 𝟔𝟎𝟕
(𝑛𝑁𝑒 + 𝑛𝐴𝑟 + 𝑛𝑋𝑒 ) 4.46 𝑚𝑜𝑙 + 0.74 𝑚𝑜𝑙 + 2.15 𝑚𝑜𝑙 7.35 𝑚𝑜𝑙
Therefore,
𝑃𝑁𝑒 = 𝑋𝑁𝑒 𝑃𝑇
= 0.607 𝑥 2.00 𝑎𝑡𝑚
= 𝟏. 𝟐𝟏 𝒂𝒕𝒎

No portion of this activity learning sheet may be reproduced without the expressed consent of the writer,
and of Sorsogon National High School. January 19, 2021
 Pressure of Argon:
𝑛𝐴𝑟 0.74 𝑚𝑜𝑙 0.74 𝑚𝑜𝑙
𝑋𝐴𝑟 = = = = 𝟎. 𝟏𝟎𝟏 𝐚𝐭𝐦
(𝑛𝑁𝑒 + 𝑛𝐴𝑟 + 𝑛𝑋𝑒 ) 4.46 𝑚𝑜𝑙 + 0.74 𝑚𝑜𝑙 + 2.15 𝑚𝑜𝑙 7.35 𝑚𝑜𝑙
𝑃𝐴𝑟 = 𝑋𝐴𝑟 𝑃𝑇
= 0.101 𝑥 2.00 𝑎𝑡𝑚
= 𝟎. 𝟐𝟎𝟐 𝒂𝒕𝒎
Pressure of Xenon:
𝑛𝑋𝑒 2.15 𝑚𝑜𝑙 2.15 𝑚𝑜𝑙
𝑋𝐴𝑟 = = = = 𝟎. 𝟐𝟗𝟑
(𝑛𝑁𝑒 + 𝑛𝐴𝑟 + 𝑛𝑋𝑒 ) 4.46 𝑚𝑜𝑙 + 0.74 𝑚𝑜𝑙 + 2.15 𝑚𝑜𝑙 7.35 𝑚𝑜𝑙

𝑃𝑋𝑒 = 𝑋𝑋𝑒 𝑃𝑇
= 0.293 𝑥 2.00 𝑎𝑡𝑚
= 𝟎. 𝟓𝟖𝟔 𝒂𝒕𝒎

Check: Make sure that the sum of the partial pressures is equal to the given total pressure; that is,
(1.21 + 0.202 + 0.586) atm = 1. 998 atm or 2.00 atm.

III. LEARNING TASKS:

A. Practice Task 1: Mole Fraction
Direction: Solve the following problems and write your complete solution in a separate sheet
of paper.
1. In a mixture of two gases, the partial pressure of methane (CH4) is 0.175 atm and the
partial pressure of oxygen is 0.250 atm. What is the mole fraction of methane and oxygen
in the mixture?
2. In a gas mixture composed of N2, Ne, and He, the partial pressure of N2 is 0.50 atm, that
of Ne is 1.1 atm, and that of He is 0.80 atm. Calculate the mole fraction of each gas.

B. Practice Task 2: Partial Pressures

Direction: Solve for the following problems and write your complete solution in your
provided paper.

1. A sample of natural gas contains 8.24 moles of methane (CH4), 0.421 mole of ethane
(C2H6), and 0.116 mole of propane (C3H8). If the total pressure of the gases is 1.37 atm,
what are the partial pressures of the gases?
2. In a gas mixture composed of N2, Ne, and He, the partial pressure of N2 is 0.50 atm, that
of Ne is 1.1 atm, and that of He is 0.80 atm. What is the total pressure of the mixture?
3. A sample of oxygen gas, which is saturated with water vapor, is kept in a 10-L vessel at
30oC and has a pressure of 758 Torr. If the pressure of the water vapor at this
temperature is 31.8 Torr, what would be the pressure of the dry oxygen?

IV. GENERALIZATION:

A tank contains 5.00 moles of O2, 3.00 moles of neon, 6.00 moles of H2S, and 4.00 moles of
Argon at a total pressure of 1620.0 mm Hg. Complete the following table by writing your solutions
and highlighting your final answers.
O2 Ne H2 S Ar Total
Moles

Mole
Fraction
Partial 1620.0
Pressure mm Hg

No portion of this activity learning sheet may be reproduced without the expressed consent of the writer,
and of Sorsogon National High School. January 19, 2021
IV. EVALUATION:
Direction: Solve the following. Use another sheet of paper for your solutions.

1. Consider the three gas containers shown here. All

of them have the same volume and are at the
same temperature.

a. Which container has the smallest mole fraction of

gas A (blue sphere)? Why?
b. Which container has the highest partial pressure
of gas B (green sphere)? Why?

2. A container with two gases, helium and argon, is 30.0% by volume helium. Calculate the
partial pressure of helium and argon if the total pressure inside the container is 4.00 atm.

3. A tank contains 480.0 grams of oxygen and 80.00 grams of helium at a total pressure of 7.00
atm. Calculate the following:

a) How many moles of O2 are in the tank?

b) How many moles of He are in the tank?
c) Total moles of gas in tank.
d) Mole fraction of O2.
e) Mole fraction of He.
f) Partial pressure of O2.
g) Partial pressure of He.

VI. REMARKS:
In this part, you can tell your teacher what confused you, what part did you find difficult or what you
learned about.
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Prepared by BLAZY R. FORMACIL, Special Science Teacher I

Language Critic: FRANCOIS L. DETERA, Master Teacher I
Content Editor: FRANCOIS L. DETERA, Master Teacher I
ANNE E. MANCIA, Assistant School Principal II
MARILYN B. DIVINA, School Principal IV

No portion of this activity learning sheet may be reproduced without the expressed consent of the writer,
and of Sorsogon National High School. January 19, 2021