Question

The secondary bonding of gas molecules to a solid surface is a common mechanism for measuring the surface area of porous materials. By lowering the temperature of a solid well below room temperature, a measured volume of gas will condense to form a monolayer coating of molecules on the porous surface. For a 90-gg sample of fused copper catalyst, a volume of 7.9×103 mm37.9×103 mm3 of nitrogen (measured at standard temperature and pressure, 0 ∘C∘C and 1 atmatm) is required to form a monolayer upon condensation. Calculate the surface area of the catalyst. (Take the area covered by a nitrogen molecule as 0.162 nm2nm2 and recall that, for an ideal gas, pV=nRTpV=nRT, where nn is the number of moles of the gas.)