Question

At STP, 22.4 L of a gas has a mass of 38.0 g. Identify the gas

Answer 1

Explanation:

The trick here is to realize that if you know the volume of a gas at STP, you can use the fact that

1

mole of any ideal gas occupies

22.7 L

under STP conditions to calculate how many moles of gas you have in your sample.

Under STP conditions:

1 mole of an ideal gas = 22.7 L

−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−

In your case, you know that your sample of gas occupies

2.28 L

under STP conditions, which are currently defined as a pressure of

100 kPa

and a temperature of

0

∘

C

.

This means that your sample will contain

2.28

L

⋅

molar volume of a gas at STP



1 mole gas

22.7

L

=

0.10044 moles gas

Now, the molar mass of the gas is the mass of exactly

1

mole of the gas. In your case, you know that you get

3.78 g

for every

0.10044

moles, which means that you have

1

mole

⋅

3.78 g

0.10044

moles

=

37.6 g

Since this is the mass of

1

mole of gas, you can say that the molar mass of the gas is