Gas Effusion: Understanding the Relative Amounts of Helium and Argon

What are the relative amounts of helium and argon in the tube at five minutes?

A glass tube contains an equal number of moles of helium and argon. After five minutes, half of the particles escape through a small hole in the glass.

Final Answer:

After five minutes, more argon is left in the tube than helium due to the quicker effusion of helium as a lighter gas.

The question is asking about the relative amounts of helium and argon in a glass tube, after half of the particles have escaped through a small hole. This involves the concept of gas effusion, which is the process by which a gas escapes through a small hole.

In this scenario, even though the tube started with an equal number of moles of helium and argon, after five minutes, there won't be equal amounts of helium and argon remaining. This is due to the fact that helium atoms are lighter than argon atoms. According to Graham's law of effusion, the rate of effusion of a gas is inversely proportional to the square root of its molar mass. Therefore, helium, with a lower molar mass, effuses faster than argon.

So, after five minutes, there will be more argon left in the tube than helium, because helium would have escaped at a faster rate.

Gas effusion is a fundamental concept in the study of gases, and understanding Graham's law of effusion can help explain how gases behave in various scenarios.