Dalton's Law states that the total pressure of a gas mixture is equal to what?

Dalton's Law highlights that in a mixture of gases, the total pressure exerted by the mixture is equal to the sum of the partial pressures of each individual gas within that mixture. Each gas in the mixture exerts pressure independently of the other gases present; this means that the total pressure is simply the combined effect of each gas's contribution to the overall pressure.

This principle is critical in various applications, including medical scenarios where gas interactions, such as oxygen and carbon dioxide in the respiratory system, are significant. Understanding this law is essential for accurate calculations in fields such as respiratory therapy, anesthesiology, and critical care medicine.

The other options do not correctly represent Dalton's Law. The sum of the vapor pressures of liquid components (the first option) pertains more to liquids in equilibrium and is not relevant to the behavior of gases. The average pressure of gases in a mixture (the third option) does not account for the individual contributions that each gas adds to the total pressure. The pressure exerted by the largest gas present (the fourth option) fails to consider the contributions of all gases, and does not represent the additive nature of gas pressure as described by Dalton.