Application of Henry's law
Application of Henry's law:
(I) In the soft drinks, e.g., soda water, beer, in order to increase the concentration of CO² the bottles are normally sealed under high pressure of CO² High pressure of CO² inside the bottle increases the solubility of CO² as per Henry's law. When the bottle is opened, the pressure on the surface of the liquid decreases and as a result, CO² comes out of the bottle along with liquids of drinks.
(II) Deep sea divers used compressed air for oxygen. According to Henry's law, the nitrogen of air dissolves in the blood of sea divers due to high pressure when the diver is in the deep sea. When the diver comes to the surface, the pressure decreases and the nitrogen dissolved in the blood escape out thereby causing a painful sensation called cassion sickness or bent. In order to avoid this sort of difficulties, He and O² mixture is taken in place of air which is less soluble in blood.
(III) Henry's law explains the function of lungs. When air enters the lungs, the partial pressure of O² becomes high and it dissolves haemoglobin to form oxyhaemoglobin. The partial pressure of O² in the tissue is low. Hence, oxygen from oxyhaemoglobin enters the tissue which is used for function of cells.
(IV) At higher altitudes, the partial pressure of O² is low, so the people going to higher altitudes feel weak and face breathing problems which will lead to anoxia. Due to this reason the climbers use oxygen cylinders for smooth breathing at higher altitudes.
(V) For the preparation of hydrogen in the Bosch process, CO² is removed from the mixture of CO² and H² by passing the mixture at high pressure (50atm) where CO² is absorbed leaving behind H² gas.