APPROXIMATE SOLUTIONS to PROBLEMS INVOLVING the IDE.AL GAS LAW ALEXANDER CALANDRA Bmoklyn College, Brooklyn, New York
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HE usual course in gerieral chemistry in colleges includes considerablework in the solution of problems. The writ,= has found that the use of calculating devices stimulates interest not only in the devices but also in the problems themselves. The writer presents several aids that are readily understood andeasily used by college students for calculations involving the ideal gas law. The instructor who does not care to enW
of Chemistry"' contains a table which gives the factors necessary for the conversion of gas volumes to standard temperature and pressure. A useful modification of
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this table is the enclosed one which contains a correction for the vapor tension of water. The writer is indebted to Dr. Donald Decker Wright for the suggestion of compiling such a table; the work was done by Mr. Howard Nechamkin and the writer. 2. courage his students in the use of these devices may find them useful in enabling him to rapidly check student calculations.
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TABLES OF CORRECTED VOLUMES
Several of these are available. Lance's "Handbook
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SIMPLIFIED APPROXIMATE EQUATION
The following equation for converting volumes of gases to standard conditions has been derived by Homer E. S t a ~ e l y . ~
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1 Laruce, editor, "Handbook of chemistry," 3rd ed.. Handbook Publishers. Inc., Sandusky. Ohio. 1939, p. 1245. STAVELY, "A simplified equation for converting volumes of gases to standard conditions." J. Cnm. E~uc.,11,283 (1934).
