Partial pressure
Partial pressure
Formula
pᵢ = xᵢ × P_total
Real World
In a scuba diver's tank, oxygen partial pressure must stay between 0.16 and 1.6 atm regardless of total pressure; diving companies like PADI use mole fractions to blend nitrox mixtures that keep pO₂ safe at depth.
Exam Focus
Calculate mole fractions before partial pressures; forgetting to sum moles of all species first is the most common arithmetic error here.
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