Pressure of air in cylinder under water

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frostchaos123
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Homework Statement



Referring to the attachment, a cylinder of 2.5m filled with air is submerged to a dept of 82.3m into the sea such that sea water in cylinder is now x m. Water at bottom is 277.15K.


The Attempt at a Solution



Using ideal gas law PV=nRT of air,

the answer gives (1atm + 82.3*rho*g) * (2.5 - x) * Area of cylinder = nR(277.15)

However i don't understand why the pressure of the gas is 1 atm + 82.3*rho*g. Since the pressure of gas is dependent on height of water, shouldn't it be 1 atm + (82.3-x) * rho*g instead?

Or another reasoning is shouldn't it be like pressure of air + pressure of water trapped in cylinder = pressure at the bottom of the sea?
 
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hi frostchaos123! :smile:

(have a rho: ρ :wink:)
frostchaos123 said:
However i don't understand why the pressure of the gas is 1 atm + 82.3*rho*g. Since the pressure of gas is dependent on height of water, shouldn't it be 1 atm + (82.3-x) * rho*g instead?

yes, i think you're right …

P is the pressure on the volume of air, which is the pressure at the air-water surface, which is at height 82.3-x :smile:

(x will be very small compared with 82.3, but I'm not sure it's small enough to be negligible)
 
pressure is based on both volume and temperature of water, that might help u understand the problem a little better