A balloon is taken to a mountain top and inflated with helium to a volume of 5.0 L. The balloon is then released and rises to an altitude where the helium has a new volume of 25.0 L and a pressure of 0.18 atm.

Which of the statements below is correct

C.At the mountain top, the pressure inside the balloon is lower than at the new altitude.

Explanation:

The gas laws will come handy in predicting pressure, volume and temperature relationships of a given amount of gas.

Given parameters:

Volume at mountaintop = 5.0L

New volume at altitude = 25.0L

New pressure at altitude = 0.18atm

Pressure at mountaintop = ?

Here we are dealing with pressure and volume relationships between two given gases. The best law that gives a good prediction of what happen is the Boyle's law.

The law states that "the volume of a fixed mass(mole) of a gas varies inversely as the pressure changes, if the temperature is constant".

 Mathematically;

               P₁V₁  = P₂V₂

P₁ is the pressure at mountaintop

P₂ is the pressure at new altitude

V₁ is the volume at mountaintop

V₂ is the volume at new altitude.

From the definition of Boyle's law, we can clearly conclude that at the new altitude, the gas expands due to low pressure and will attain a new volume.

The pressure at mountaintop;

       P₁ x 5  = 25 x 0.18

        P₁ = 0.9atm

We can clearly see that at the mountaintop, the balloon has a higher pressure that confines the helium gas inside the balloon to a lower space.

An inverse relationship thus exists between volume and pressure