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physstudent1
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Homework Statement
At what temperature does water boil on the top of mount everest, elevation z = 8848m?
Recall that the dependence of pressure with altitude is give by:
P=P_atm * exp(-MWgz/RT)
MW=molecular weight of the gas, P_atm =atmospheric pressure, g is the gravitational acceleration.
Homework Equations
The Attempt at a Solution
Well I have never seen this equation before and I think misusing it is what is throwing me off int his problem. I understand that once I know the pressure of the air on Mt Everest I just need to look through the steam tables and find what Temperature the vapor pressure of water = the pressure of the air. However I am little confused on this equation. What temperature are they looking for? I'm assuming MW would be that of air which I think off hand is like 28g/mol not sure though and R is the gas constant in meters and not sure what other units to use. I also don't really know what to plug in for P_atm because I thought what we were looking for was the atmospheric pressure?! Someone please help this problem should be really easy its only the 6th problem in the first chapter of HW in my thermo book!