A tank contains a gas at a pressure of 3 atm at 303K. It is instructed that the tank can withstand a maximum pressure of 14 atm. This tank is installed in a building that catches fire. Will this tank first melt or burst, if the melting point of the tank is 2250K.
Melt
Burst
Both occur simultaneously
Nothing can be predicted
We have:
= 303K,
= 2250K
= 3 atm
Now, we know from Gay-Lussac’s law:
Thus, the tank will burst before melting as the pressure inside it would be 22.3 atm which is greater than it can withstand.
Therefore, Option(2) is correct