The March 1979 accident at the Three Mile Island nuclear plant occurred due to a series of operator errors and equipment failures, which reduced the flow of cooling water to the reactor core. As a result, the water began to boil and the core reached the temperature at which the steam reacted with the zirconium cladding of the fuel rods producing zirconium oxide (ZrO2) and hydrogen gas. The hydrogen bubble that formed was estimated to be 28,000 liters in volume and further impeded the flow of cooling water, which was at 250 °C and 6900 kPa.
a) Discuss possible methods for determining the molar volume of the gas inside the bubble. Your discussion should include a list of methods that you feel are appropriate for this case, and the one that you feel will be the simplest while still providing a good estimate.
b) Use at least two methods to determine the mass of zirconium that reacted. Present the results in a table and critique how your calculations support the discussion in part (a).
Hints: For hydrogen, the critical constants must be adjusted: Tc,a = Tc + 8K, Pc,+8 atm. If needed, you may use internet resources [provide copy and reference for anything you use] for the discussion in part (a). If desired, you may also use or discuss methods that were not presented in class.