What is the molecular mass of the unknown gas in the atmosphere?

  • Thread starter Thread starter annalise17
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Mass Molecular
AI Thread Summary
To calculate the molecular mass of an unknown gas in the atmosphere, the user is working with temperature, gravitational constants, and pressure values at different altitudes. They have derived the gravitational acceleration using the formula g = GM/R^2, but are struggling to connect this with the molecular mass equation g = kT/mλ. The calculated gravitational value is significantly lower than Earth's, suggesting a smaller mass for the unknown gas. Despite rearranging the equations, the resulting molecular mass is off by a factor of 10^3 compared to known gases. Further guidance on integrating gravitational constants with molecular mass calculations is needed.
annalise17
Messages
10
Reaction score
0

Homework Statement



I need to calculate the mas of a molecule of an unknown gas in the atmosphere from the values:

T = 500 K
mass of the planet = 1.5 × 1024 kg
radius is 3.0 × 106 m
universal constant of gravitation, G = 6.67 × 10^−11 N m^2 kg^−2
P at ground level = 2.0 × 10^7 Pa
P at 50km altitude = 2.0 × 10^5 Pa

Homework Equations



g=kT/mλ

but I can't find an equation involving G :(

The Attempt at a Solution



I am completely stuck, if I can get ahint where to start I'll have a go and see if I get anywhere.
 
Physics news on Phys.org
On Earth

F = mg = GmM/R^2 so g = GM/R^2
 
Right, I've got so far as calculating g now and have calculated a very low value for g compared to Earth which is consistent with having a smaller mass than earth. I've also worked out an equation for m by rearranging λ=kT/mg ut the value doesn't match that of the two gases it could be by a factor of 10^3.
 
Last edited:
I multiplied the values first without the error limit. Got 19.38. rounded it off to 2 significant figures since the given data has 2 significant figures. So = 19. For error I used the above formula. It comes out about 1.48. Now my question is. Should I write the answer as 19±1.5 (rounding 1.48 to 2 significant figures) OR should I write it as 19±1. So in short, should the error have same number of significant figures as the mean value or should it have the same number of decimal places as...
Thread 'A cylinder connected to a hanging mass'
Let's declare that for the cylinder, mass = M = 10 kg Radius = R = 4 m For the wall and the floor, Friction coeff = ##\mu## = 0.5 For the hanging mass, mass = m = 11 kg First, we divide the force according to their respective plane (x and y thing, correct me if I'm wrong) and according to which, cylinder or the hanging mass, they're working on. Force on the hanging mass $$mg - T = ma$$ Force(Cylinder) on y $$N_f + f_w - Mg = 0$$ Force(Cylinder) on x $$T + f_f - N_w = Ma$$ There's also...
Back
Top