What does Dalton's Law state about the total pressure of a mixture of gases?

Dalton's Law, also known as Dalton's Law of Partial Pressures, states that in a mixture of non-reacting gases, the total pressure exerted by the mixture is equal to the sum of the partial pressures of each individual gas in the mixture. This principle helps in understanding how different gases contribute to the overall pressure in a given system.

When gases are combined, each gas exerts pressure independently, and this pressure can be measured as its partial pressure. By summing these partial pressures, one can accurately determine the total pressure of the gas mixture. This concept is particularly important in various applications, such as refrigeration systems where different gases may be used, and understanding their individual pressures is crucial for system performance and safety.

Options suggesting that the total pressure depends solely on temperature or volume, or that it is influenced by the chemical composition of the gases, do not align with Dalton's Law. While temperature and volume can affect the behavior of gases, they do not directly correlate to the summation of pressures that Dalton's Law describes. Similarly, while the presence of different gases might alter the individual partial pressures, the law itself focuses on the additive nature of those pressures rather than any interaction or dependency on composition.