Answer to Question #161374 in General Chemistry for Tyler Murphy

Question

Some eye surgeries temporarily insert a tiny 0.125 mL gas bubble, pressurized to standard 101.3 kPa, to keep the retina in place during healing. However, patients are warned not to scuba dive, since pressure can reach 4.5 times that of standard pressure at typical diving depths. Calculate the volume, in mL, that the gas bubble will obtain at typical diving depths.

Answer 1

Initial Volume(V₁) = 0.125 mL

Intial Pressure (P₁) = 101.3 kPa

Final pressure (P₂) = 4.5 × 101.3 = 455.85 KPa

Using Boyle's law,

P₁V₁ = P₂V₂

101.3 × 0.125 = 455.85 × V₂

V₂ = 0.0312 mL

Volume = [0.0312] mL