COMPONENTS OF THE AIR IN THE

ATMOSPHERE
DALTON’S LAW
OF
PARTIAL
PRESSURE
 John Dalton
September 6, 1766 - July 27, 1844

Cumberland, England

Teacher, Chemist,
Meteorologist and Physicist
 PARTIAL PRESSURE

The partial pressure of a gas

is the pressure of each gas in a mixture.

is the pressure that gas would exert if it were by itself in the
container.
The individual
pressure of the
following
gases

8
DALTON’S LAW OF PARTIAL
PRESSURE
When two or more gases are mixed together without
reacting one another obeys this gas law.

This law states that “the total pressure of a mixture of gases is

equal to the sums of the pressures that the individual gases would
exert alone.”
DALTON’S LAW OF PARTIAL
PRESSURE
In equation form, it was written as:

Ptotal= P1+ P2 + P3 + …

Where: Ptotal = Total Pressure

P1 = Partial Pressure of Gas 1
P2 = Partial Pressure of Gas 2
The individual
pressure of the
following
gases

11
 SAMPLE PROBLEMS
1. A steel cylinder contains a mixture of nitrogen gas at 424
torr, oxygen gas at 133 torr, and helium gas at 276 torr. What
is the total pressure of the gas?
2. The total pressure inside a container of nitrogen, oxygen,
and carbon dioxide is 2.77 atm. What is the partial pressure
of carbon dioxide if the partial pressures of nitrogen gas and
oxygen gas are 0.94 atm and 0.62 atm, respectively?
DALTON’S LAW OF PARTIAL
PRESSURE
In some cases, in order to get the total pressure of the gas
in the container, a new concept has been introduced which is
known to be as MOLE FRACTION.
 MOLE FRACTION
The mole fraction (X) of a gas is simply the ratio of the number of
moles of one of the gases in the mixture to the total number of
moles present in the gas.
Simply, it was expressed as:
𝑴𝒐𝒍𝒆𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒈𝒂𝒔 𝑨
XA=
𝑻𝒐𝒕𝒂𝒍 𝒎𝒐𝒍𝒆𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒊𝒙𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆
The mole fraction of any of the gases in the mixture should be less
than 1. The sum of all the mole fractions of the gases should be
equal to 1.
DALTON’S LAW OF PARTIAL
PRESSURE
Mathematically, we can express the total pressure of the gas
using the mole fraction as:
Ptotal= XA ●Ptotal + XB ●Ptotal + …

Where: Ptotal = Total Pressure

XA = Mole Fraction of Gas 1
PA = Partial Pressure of Gas 1
 SAMPLE PROBLEM

At depths of about 350 ft, divers are subject to a pressure

of approximately 10 atm. A typical gas cylinder used for such
depths contains 51.2 g of O2 and 326.4 g of He and has a
volume of 10.0 L. What is the partial pressure of each gas at
20.00°C, and what is the total pressure in the cylinder at
this temperature?
 SAMPLE PROBLEM

The mole fraction of nitrogen gas (N2) in air is 0.78.

This means that 78.0% of the surrounding air is
nitrogen gas. What is the partial pressure exerted by
nitrogen gas if the reading from a nearby mercury
barometer is 745 mmHg?
 COLLECTING GASES
• Gases are often collected by having them displace water from
a container.
• The partial pressure of the water vapor, called the vapor
pressure, depends only on the temperature.

You can use a table to find out the partial pressure of the
water vapor in the gas you collect.
WATER VAPOR PRESSURE
To get the pressure of the gas, just subtract the value
of the partial pressure of the water vapor in a specific
temperature from the total pressure.

Pgas= Ptotal - PH2O

 SAMPLE PROBLEM
If you collect a gas sample with a total pressure of
758.2 mmHg at 25 °C, what is the partial pressure of
the dry gas?
WATER VAPOR PRESSURE TABLE
COLLECTING GAS BY WATER
DISPLACEMENT
 SEATWORK
Solve the following problem set.
1. The total pressure inside a container of nitrogen, oxygen, and
carbon dioxide is 3.74 atm. What is the partial pressure of carbon
dioxide if the partial pressure of nitrogen gas and oxygen gas are
0.89 atm and 0.46 atm, respectively?
2. A gaseous mixture made from 6.00 g O2 and 9.00 g CH4 is placed
in a 15.0-L vessel at 0°C. What is the partial pressure of each gas,
and what is the total pressure in the vessel?
3. 0.750 L of a gas is collected over water at 23.0°C with a total
pressure of 658 mmHg. What is the pressure of the dry gas?
 ASSIGNMENT
In ½ sheet crosswise, solve for the following problems.
1. From the data gathered by Voyager 1, scientists have estimated the
composition of the atmosphere of Titan, Saturn’s largest moon. The total
pressure on the surface of Titan is 1200 torr. The mole fraction
compositions of Titan’s atmosphere are as follows: 0.82 nitrogen gas, 0.12
argon, and 0.06 methane (CH4). Calculate the partial pressure of each of
these gases in Titan’s atmosphere.
2. What is the total pressure exerted by a mixture of 2.00 g of H2 and 8.00 g
of N2 at 273 K in a 10.0-L vessel?