Chemistry

Chemistry

Problem

An ideal gas is confined to a rigid 2.5 L2.5\,\text{L} container at 300 K300\,\text{K}. If the gas is heated to 450 K450\,\text{K} without changing its volume, by what factor does the pressure change?
Intuitive explanation

This is a constant-volume heating problem—a direct application of Gay-Lussac's Law. Since the container is rigid, volume stays fixed, so pressure and absolute temperature are directly proportional. You just need to set up the ratio of final to initial pressure using the ideal gas law, where PV=nRTPV=nRT simplifies beautifully when VV, nn, and RR are constant.

Intuitive explanation

This is a constant-volume heating problem—a direct application of Gay-Lussac's Law. Since the container is rigid, volume stays fixed, so pressure and absolute temperature are directly proportional. You just need to set up the ratio of final to initial pressure using the ideal gas law, where PV=nRTPV=nRT simplifies beautifully when VV, nn, and RR are constant.

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