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What is the surface area of a sample of activated carbon if it adsorbed 2.5 moles of nitrogen gas at 77 K and 1 atm pressure? The cross-sectional area of nitrogen gas is known to be 16.2 square angstroms.

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To calculate the surface area of the activated carbon sample, we can use the Brunauer-Emmett-Teller  BET  theory, which relates the amount of gas adsorbed to the surface area of the adsorbent. The BET equation is:n =  n_m * C * P  / [ P_0 - P  *  1 +  C - 1  * P / P_0 ]where:n = amount of gas adsorbed  in moles n_m = monolayer capacity  in moles C = BET constant  dimensionless P = partial pressure of the gas  in atm P_0 = saturation pressure of the gas  in atm At 77 K and 1 atm pressure, nitrogen gas behaves as an ideal gas, so we can assume that the partial pressure of nitrogen  P  is equal to the atmospheric pressure  1 atm . The saturation pressure of nitrogen  P_0  is also 1 atm. Since the activated carbon adsorbed 2.5 moles of nitrogen gas, we can assume that the monolayer capacity  n_m  is equal to 2.5 moles. The BET constant  C  is typically in the range of 20-200 for activated carbon. However, the exact value of C is not provided, so we cannot determine the surface area using the BET equation.Instead, we can use the Langmuir isotherm, which is a simpler model that assumes a monolayer adsorption:n =  n_m * K * P  /  1 + K * P where:n = amount of gas adsorbed  in moles n_m = monolayer capacity  in moles K = Langmuir constant  in atm^-1 P = partial pressure of the gas  in atm Since we know that n = 2.5 moles and P = 1 atm, we can rewrite the equation as:2.5 =  n_m * K  /  1 + K However, we still do not have enough information to solve for n_m or K.Assuming that the entire 2.5 moles of nitrogen gas form a monolayer on the activated carbon surface, we can estimate the surface area using the cross-sectional area of nitrogen gas  16.2 square angstroms .Surface area = n * N_A * where:n = amount of gas adsorbed  in moles N_A = Avogadro's number  6.022 x 10^23 molecules/mol  = cross-sectional area of nitrogen gas  16.2 square angstroms Surface area = 2.5 moles *  6.022 x 10^23 molecules/mol  *  16.2 square angstroms Surface area  2.45 x 10^25 square angstromsThe estimated surface area of the activated carbon sample is approximately 2.45 x 10^25 square angstroms. However, this is a rough estimate, as we made several assumptions and did not have all the necessary parameters to use the BET or Langmuir equations.

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