Academic Subjects
Chemistry
General Chemistry
Gases
Pressure Of Gas After Temperature Is Lowered To -173°C

The gas in a container has a pressure of 6 atm at 27°C.
What will the pressure be if the temperature is lowered to -173°C?



We're dealing with a gas here, so keeping the Ideal Gas Law

pV = nRT

in mind, is a good idea

Since we're not interested in the type of gas, i.e. moles (so we don't need R either)
and the volume remains constant, pV = nRT we'll end up with

p = T, also called Gay-Lussac's Law

Kelvin

First, let's do a temperature conversion

27°C + 273.15 = 300.15

-173°C + 273.15 = 100.15



It is not really necessary to convert °C to K in this case,
since both initial and final temperature has the same units,

but it is good practice and proper form

Gay-Lussac's Law

Now, we can set up a ratio

pinitial / Tinitial
=
pfinal / Tfinal


adding provided data

6 atm / 300.15 K
=
p / 100.15 K


Celcuis

(6 atm)(100.15 K) / 300.15 K
= p

p = 2.00199 atm

The final pressure of this gas is 2 atm