Pressure and volume lab...very confused

Question

I'm working with the calculations for a lab to measure pressure in a controlled environment.

 

The first table's text instructs:  "Convert mL to L and 1/L and calculate." 

 

The Data appears as follows:

Volume (mL) |  Volume (L)  |  Calculate 1/V (L^-1)                       |  Pressure (mmHg)  |  Calculate P x V

20 mL            |  0.020 (L)      | This is the one I don't understand  |  1141.1 (mmHg)       | 22.822 (L/mmHg)

 

I believe that my final value (22.822 L/mmHg) will change if I knew how to calculate 1/V (L^-1).  I'm distracted by the negative exponent.  From what I understand of Algebra, negative exponents have to be "flipttped" before any calculations can be performed.  Furthermore, I haven't seen any gas Law formula written like this in our text book (Introduction To Chemistry - Karen C Timberlake).

 

If someone could clear this up so I can get on with the rest of my calculations I would be incredibly grateful.

Answer 1

Hi Kitty,

 

I'm not sure why your lab is asking for this, but it's a simple calculation. For each value of V, you can calculate this by dividing 1 by each value.

 

For the data you gave, this will be

V = 0.020 L

1/V = 1/(0.020 L) = 50 L^-1

 

The L^-1 are simply the units of this odd value, indicating that it is 50 (something) per Liter.

 

Regardless, your other values will not change based on what you calculate with this.