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Acetylene torches are used for welding. These torches use a mixture of acetylene

ID: 515815 • Letter: A

Question

Acetylene torches are used for welding. These torches use a mixture of acetylene gas, C2H2, and oxygen gas, O2 to produce the following combustion reaction:

2C2H2(g)+5O2(g)4CO2(g)+2H2O(g)

Imagine that you have a 6.00 L gas tank and a 4.50 L gas tank. You need to fill one tank with oxygen and the other with acetylene to use in conjunction with your welding torch. If you fill the larger tank with oxygen to a pressure of 155 atm , to what pressure should you fill the acetylene tank to ensure that you run out of each gas at the same time? Assume ideal behavior for all gases.

Please help? I only have a couple of attempts left and I can't get the right answer! Thank you.

Explanation / Answer

2C2H2 + 5O2 -----> 4CO2 + 2H2O

SO, 1 mole C2H2 = 5/2 moles O2

IDEAL GAS BEHAVIOUR

PV=nRT

SO,

PC2H2*VC2H2 = nc2h2*R*T---------(i)

PO2 * VO2 = nO2 *R*T---------------(ii)

DIVIDING (i) BY (ii) WE GET

(PC2H2 * VC2H2 )/(PO2 *VO2) = nc2h2/ no2

(PC2H2 * 4.5) / (6*155) = 2/5

SO, PC2H2 = 82.66 atm