Question

Description: Our solar system is very diverse when it comes to the gas composition on our planets. On Mercury, which has almost no atmosphere, the pressure is less than 10-14 bar. Venus on the other hand has a much more dense atmosphere than earth, with a pressure of 92 bar. Instructions: Write a response to the following prompt and then respond to your peers.

Would having different atmospheric pressures have an effect on the accuracy of gas laws? If so, which planets would be the most reliable and which would be the least?

Answer 1

Real gases with low atomic masses behave like an ideal gas at high temperatures and low pressure. Since on earth at sea level the pressure is close to 1 atm(which is a low pressure) and temperature is close to 288.15 K288.15 K (high temperature),weI can use the equation PV=nRT to approximate properties of the gas.

For planets like Mercury, Venus, Mars the approximation of PV=nRT still can be used since they would have even lower pressures than Earth.

Mercury has almost no atmosphere. The total mass of all gas in Mercury's atmosphere is only 10000 kg! The pressure is less than 10−14 bar. The approximation will be very accurate.

The mass of Venus's atmosphere is 4.8×10²⁴ and pressure is 92 bar, so PV = nRT will be much worse of an approximation than on earth.

Mars has a small atmosphere, less than Earth more than Mercury.

Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune are gas giants with no distinct surface.