Ideal gases in medicine
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Ideal gases in medicine
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[post_date] => 2025-01-09 07:52:05
[post_date_gmt] => 2025-01-09 12:52:05
[post_content] => Practice Passage (Question 1-5)
*This passage is the property of Khan Academy and has been reformatted into an AAMC-style interface in their entirety by MedLife Mastery. MedLife Mastery does not endorse and is not an affiliate of Khan Academy.
Noble gases have numerous medicinal functions due to their relative non-reactivity. Helium is beneficial in respiratory treatments due to its low density, low solubility, and high thermal conductivity. Argon is useful for cryotherapy, in which tissue is exposed to sub-zero temperatures for surgical purposes. The anesthetic application of Xenon has been demonstrated to be more effective than previous techniques, although the significant financial expense of the gas makes its use less common. Finally, Krypton finds use in the field of cardiology in its use of detecting abnormal heart openings.
A research assistant in a lab is investigating the properties of Helium, Argon, Krypton, and Xenon for further use in the medical field. In the lab, there are four sealed containers, each of which contains a certain amount of a respective gas. The canisters are labeled with the type of gas contained, the pressure of the gas contained, the volume of the canister, and the # of moles of the gas.
Table 1. Each canister and the element's corresponding pressure, volume, and number of moles.
Sources:
Berganza, C. Zhang, J. (2013). The role of helium in medicine. Medical Gas Research, 3, 18. Loma Linda, CA.
Jordan, B. Wright, E. (2010). Xenon as an Anasthetic Agent. American Association of Nurse Anesthetists Journal, 78.
Chemical Properties. (2015). Krypton. Chemical Properties of Krypton. Lenntech BV. Rotterdamseweg, NED.
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[question] => What would be the correct ranking of the average kinetic energy of the gas molecules of the gases based on how they are labeled?
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[answer] => 4
[description] => Reason for the Correct Answer:
PV=nRT, where n is the number of moles of the gas.
The gas with the largest temperature will have the largest average KE
T=PV/nR, but R is the same for each so compare the ratios of PV/n for each gas
PV/n is largest for Krypton, then Xenon, then Argon, then Helium
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[answers] => Array
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[0] => Array
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[each_answer] => A. KExᴇɴᴏɴ > KEᴀʀɢᴏɴ > KEᴋʀʏᴘᴛᴏɴ > KEʜᴇʟɪᴜᴍ
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[1] => Array
(
[each_answer] => B. KExᴇɴᴏɴ > KEᴋʀʏᴘᴛᴏɴ > KEᴀʀɢᴏɴ > KEʜᴇʟɪᴜᴍ
)
[2] => Array
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[each_answer] => C. KExᴇɴᴏɴ > KEᴋʀʏᴘᴛᴏɴ > KEʜᴇʟɪᴜᴍ > KEᴀʀɢᴏɴ
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[3] => Array
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[each_answer] => D. KEᴋʀʏᴘᴛᴏɴ > KExᴇɴᴏɴ > KEᴀʀɢᴏɴ > KEʜᴇʟɪᴜᴍ
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[1] => Array
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[quiz_unique_key] => 3873426850
[question] => What would happen to the temperature of the Helium container if the number of moles was kept constant but the pressure was changed to 400,000Pa and the volume of the canister was changed to 0.01 m³?
[value] => Array
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[answer] => 2
[description] => Reason for the Correct Answer:
PV=nRT
The pressure increases by a factor of 4, and the volume is cut in half
Since the pressure is quadrupled and the volume is cut in half, the temperature would change by a factor of 4/2, which means doubled
)
[answers] => Array
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[0] => Array
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[each_answer] => A. The temperature would be cut in half
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[1] => Array
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[each_answer] => B. The temperature would double
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[2] => Array
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[each_answer] => C. The temperature would quadruple
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[3] => Array
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[each_answer] => D. The temperature would increase by a factor of 8
)
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[2] => Array
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[quiz_unique_key] => 83407773
[question] => Based on how the canisters are labeled, how much greater is the average kinetic energy of the molecules of Xenon compared to Argon?
[value] => Array
(
[answer] => 2
[description] => Reason for the Correct Answer:
PV=nRT
KEᴀᴠɢ=3/2 NkT
Xenon has a temperature that is 16 times larger than the temperature of Argon, so the average KE of Xenon is 16 times larger than Argon
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[answers] => Array
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[0] => Array
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[each_answer] => A. 8 times larger
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[1] => Array
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[each_answer] => B. 16 times larger
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[2] => Array
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[each_answer] => C. 32 times larger
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[3] => Array
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[each_answer] => D. The average kinetic energy is the same for each gas
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[quiz_unique_key] => 2261298308
[question] => Based on how the canisters are labeled, how would you rank the heat capacities of the gases at constant volume Cᵥ?
[value] => Array
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[answer] => 4
[description] => Reason for the Correct Answer:
Heat capacity is defined to be C=Q/ΔT
The heat capacity at constant volume of a monatomic ideal gas is C=3nR/2
Since the heat capacities of monatomic ideal gases only depend on the number of moles, the ranking is based on the number of moles only
Therefore, the correct answer is Cᵥ Argon > Cᵥ Helium > Cᵥ Xenon > Cᵥ Krypton
)
[answers] => Array
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[0] => Array
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[each_answer] => A. Cᵥ Helium > Cᵥ Argon > Cᵥ Krypton > Cᵥ Xenon
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[1] => Array
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[each_answer] => B. Cᵥ Krypton > Cᵥ Xenon > Cᵥ Argon > Cᵥ Helium
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[2] => Array
(
[each_answer] => C. Cᵥ Krypton > Cᵥ Xenon > Cᵥ Helium > Cᵥ Argon
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[3] => Array
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[each_answer] => D. Cᵥ Argon > Cᵥ Helium > Cᵥ Xenon > Cᵥ Krypton
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[4] => Array
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[quiz_unique_key] => 574431310
[question] => You decide to add the same amount of heat to each canister, in their labeled states, and allow the canisters to expand so the pressure of the gas remains constant while the heat is added. During this process which gas would change its temperature by the greatest amount?
[value] => Array
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[answer] => 3
[description] => Reason for the Correct Answer:
Heat capacity is defined to be C=Q/ΔT, so smaller heat capacity means greater change in temperature
The heat capacity at constant pressure of a monatomic ideal gas is C=5nR/
Since the heat capacities of monatomic ideal gases only depend on the number of moles, you just need to look at the number of mole
Since Krypton has the least moles, it has the smallest heat capacity, and therefore will change its temperature by the greatest amount when absorbing the same amount of heat
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[0] => Array
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[each_answer] => A. Helium
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[each_answer] => B. Argon
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[each_answer] => C. Krypton
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[each_answer] => D. Xenon
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[558136|1] => D
[558136|2] => B
[558136|3] => B
[558136|4] => D
[558136|5] => C
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