Graham's Law
One of my textbooks lists the following practice problem as an example of Graham's Law:
"A sample of Xe takes 75 seconds to effuse out of a container. An unknown gas takes 37 seconds to effuse out of the identical container under identical conditions. What is the most likely identity of the gas?"
It gives 4 choices: He, O2, Br2, and Kr.
I've triple checked my math, but I keep getting an outrageous answer, using Graham's Law (where Xe is B and the unknown is A):
Rate A / Rate B = sqrt(Molar Mass B / Molar Mass A)
37 seconds / 75 seconds = sqrt (131.29 g/mol) / Molar Mass A)
0.493 = sqrt (131.29 g/mol / Molar Mass A)
(0.493)^2 = (131.29 g/mol / Molar Mass A)
Molar Mass A = 131.29 g/mol / (0.493)^2
Molar Mass A = 131.29 g/mol / 0.243
Molar Mass A = 540.29 g/mol
My textbook lists "O2" as the correct answer. I know that if you multiply 131.29 by 0.243, you get 31.9 g/mol (essentially, O2). Where is my math wrong?
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