In lab we were asked to determine the mass of a piece of magnesium indirectly by

Question

In lab we were asked to determine the mass of a piece of magnesium indirectly by measuring the amount of H2 produced after Mg reacted with HCL in a tube using dalton's law of partial pressures and the ideal gas law. Our teacher instructed us to find the pressure of the column of water using the height of water by the density of mercury and then to find the pressure of hydrogen using Patm=Pgas+PH2O+h (where Pgas is the H2 and h is height of water column).

I was under the impression that the law pf partial pressures would just be the sum of the pressures. Can someone explain why the height of the water column is included in this equation?

Thanks!

Explanation / Answer

In Dolton's law it is said that in a non reacting gas mixture,total exerted presaure equals to the partial pressure of each gas.

There is a pressure at the bottom of the column due to change of the height. And the pressure is in mmHg.. to indicate the presaure due to hieght, h is added up to the total pressure calculations.

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