What does partial pressure of oxygen mean?

1 Answer
anor277
Aug 15, 2016

The partial pressure of any gas in a gaseous mixture is the same as the pressure that gas would exert if it alone occupied the container.

Explanation:

Both you and I are currently breathing air at approx. 1*atm1⋅atm pressure. In terms of partial pressures, this is 0.21*atm0.21⋅atm "dioxygen"dioxygen, and 0.79*atm0.79⋅atm "dinitrogen"dinitrogen. The total pressure is the sum of the partial pressures.

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