A gas such as carbon monoxide would be most likely to obey the ideal gas law at
- low temperatures and high pressures
- high temperatures and high pressures
- low temperatures and low pressures
- high temperatures and low pressures
Answer
(4) high temperatures and low pressures
Solution
Real gases deviate from ideal behaviour because of intermolecular attractions and the finite volume of molecules.
⇒ At low pressure the gas occupies a large volume, so the volume of the molecules themselves is negligible.
⇒ At high temperature the kinetic energy is large, so intermolecular attractions become negligible.
∴ A real gas such as CO behaves most nearly ideally (Z 1) at high temperatures and low pressures.
Answer: (4)