Description
A sample of hydrogen gas at a temperature of 40 K changes its volume from 50 liters to 30 liters. What is the new temperature after the reduction in volume?
Explanation & Answer
Thank you for the opportunity to help you with your question!
To answer this question we need to use Charles's Law. Charles's Law describes the relationship between temperature and volume. --as temperature increases, so will volume -and as temperature decreases so does volume. They are connected in a linear relationship. The formula for Charles's Law is:
V1/T1 = V2/T2
The question asks you for the new temperature, which is T2.
Let's take a look at the values that were given in the question so that we can solve for T2.
The original temperature given in this question is 40 K (T1)
The original volume is 50L (V1), and the final volume is 30L (V2)
all you need to do now is plug in those numbers and solve for T2:
50/40 = 30/T2
we can rearrange this to solve for T2:
T2 = (30 * 40) / 50
T2= 24 K
You can always double check your answer by seeing if it logically makes sense. Since the final volume is smaller than the original volume, according to Charles's law it, that means that the final temperature must be lower. Indeed, 24 K is lower than 40 K.