A cylinder of a gas mixture used for calibration of blood gas analyzers in medical laboratories contains 5% carbon dioxide, 12% oxygen, and the remainder nitrogen at a total pressure of 146 atmospheres. What is the partial pressure of each component of the gas?

Alright. So we're going to say we have 5% CO₂, we have 12% oxygen, and if we do 100% minus the 5% and 12%, that will give us the percentage of our nitrogen gas. So that will come out to 83% nitrogen gas. Now that we know each of their percentages, we can figure out their fractional compositions and by extension their partial pressures.

So for CO₂, the pressure of CO₂ equals its fractional composition which is 5% divided by 100% times the total pressure of 146 atmospheres. This tells me that the partial pressure of CO₂ is about 7.3 atmospheres.

For O₂, that'd be 12%, so the pressure of O₂ equals 12% divided by 100%, times the total pressure. So that will come out to 17.5 atmospheres.

And then finally we have nitrogen gas, so that would be the pressure of nitrogen gas equals 83 percent divided by 100% times 146 atmospheres. So this comes out to approximately 121.2 atmospheres.

So these will be the partial pressures of each gas component within the gas mixture of this cylinder.