alleryStart learning →The total pressure of a mixture of ideal gases equals which quantity?
AThe largest single partial pressure
BThe product of the partial pressures
CThe sum of the partial pressures
DThe mean of the partial pressures
Answer & Solution
Correct answer: C. The sum of the partial pressures
1. Gases in a mixture that do not react leave each other's pressure untouched.
2. Each gas presses on the walls exactly as it would if it were alone in the container.
3. So the total pressure is the simple sum of those individual contributions, which is Dalton's law of partial pressures.
4. Combining cylinders at 300 kPa, 600 kPa and 450 kPa into one of the same size gives 1350 kPa, not an average of them.
_Source: OpenStax Chemistry (CC BY 4.0), Ch 9 "Gases", section 9.3 Stoichiometry of Gaseous Substances, Mixtures, and Reactions_
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