An Introduction to Chemical Science

by Rufus P. Williams

Chapter, LXII.

GAS VOLUMES AND WEIGHTS.

343. Oxygen.

Experiment 134.—Weigh accurately, using delicate balances, 5 g. KClO3, and mix with the crystals 1 or 2 g. of pure powdered MnO2. Put the mixture into a t.t. with a tight-fitting cork and delivery-tube, and invert over the water-pan, to collect the gas, a flask of at least one and a half liters' capacity, filled with water. Apply heat, and, without rejecting any of the gas, collect it as long as any will separate.

Then press the flask down into the water till the level in the flask is the same as that outside, and remove the flask, leaving in the bottom all the water that is not displaced. Weigh the flask with the water it contains; then completely fill it with water and weigh again.

Subtract the first weight from the second, and the result will evidently be the weight of water that occupies the same volume as the O collected. This weight, if expressed in grams, represents approximately the number of cubic centimeters of water,—since 1 cc. of water weighs lg,—or the number of cubic centimeters of O.

At the time the experiment is performed the temperature should be noted with a centigrade thermometer, and the atmospheric pressure with a barometer graduated to millimeters.

Suppose that we have obtained 1450 cc. of O, that the temperature is 27 degrees, and the pressure 758 mm.; we wish to find the volume and the weight of the gas at 0 degrees and 760 mm.

According to the law of Charles—the volume of a given quantity of gas at constant pressure varies directly as the absolute temperature. To reduce from the centigrade to the absolute scale, we have only to add 273 degrees. Adding the observed temperature, we have 273 degrees + 27 degrees = 300 degrees. Applying the above law to O obtained at 300 degrees A, we have the proportion below. Since the volume of O at 273 degrees will be less than it will at 300 degrees, the fourth term, or answer will be less than the third, and the second term must be less than the first. 300 : 273 :: 1450 : x. This would give the result dependent upon temperature alone.

By the law of Mariotte - Physics, - the volume of a given quantity of gas at a constant temperature varies inversely as the pressure. Applying this law to the O obtained at 758mm, we have the following proportion. The volume at 760mm will be less than at 758mm; or the fourth term will be less than the third; hence the second must be less than the first. 760: 758:: 1450: x. This would give the result dependent on pressure alone.