Question

A gas such as carbon monoxide would be most likely to obey the ideal gas law at :

• A. high temperatures and high pressures
• B. low temperatures and low pressures
• C. high temperatures and low pressures
• D. low temperatures and high pressures

Answer 1

The Correct Option is C

The Ideal Gas Law is an important equation in chemistry that describes how gases behave under certain conditions. The Ideal Gas Law is expressed as:

PV = nRT

Where:

• P is the pressure of the gas.
• V is the volume of the gas.
• n is the number of moles of the gas.
• R is the ideal gas constant.
• T is the temperature of the gas in Kelvin.

The Ideal Gas Law is derived based on several assumptions, one of which is that gas particles do not interact with each other and occupy no volume. In real-world scenarios, these assumptions are not perfectly met, particularly at extreme conditions such as high pressures and low temperatures.

For a gas to most closely resemble the behavior predicted by the Ideal Gas Law, the conditions should be such that:

• The particles are far apart, minimizing intermolecular forces.
• The effects of particle volume are negligible compared to the volume of the container.

These conditions are best met at high temperatures and low pressures because:

• High Temperatures: At high temperatures, gas particles gain kinetic energy, moving rapidly and overpowering any intermolecular attractions.
• Low Pressures: At low pressures, the volume occupied by the gas is large, making the volume of individual gas molecules negligible.

Therefore, under high temperature and low pressure conditions, gases like carbon monoxide are more likely to behave ideally, as predicted by the Ideal Gas Law.

Hence, the correct answer to the question is: high temperatures and low pressures.