Consider two small masses of air, both at a pressure of 1000 mb. One mass is on the beach in Costa Rica (lucky air mass) and the other is on a glacier in Greenland (Sad!). Which mass has the higher density?

the air density in Costa Rica is less than the air density in Greenland

Explanation:

Analyze this case give us information about air that in the first approximation we can consider it an ideal gas, so we can use the equation

PV = nRT

Where P is the pressure is the volume, n the number of moles, T the absolute temperature

They ask us to calculate the density with formula

d = m / V

Of the first equation

n / V = (P / R) 1 / T (1)

The number of moles is directly related to the mass of the gas, therefore the ratio of the left (n / V) is proportional to the density of the gas

Let's analyze there are several constant quantities, the pressure. The area of Costa Rica is close to the Earth's equator, so it has a high temperature (T1). The part of Greenland is near the Arctic circle cooler zone (T2). Therefore the temperature of Costa Ricacha is much higher than that of Greenland (T1 >> T2)

In equation 1 we see that as the density is inversely proportional to the temperature, therefore the air density in Costa Rica is less than the air density in Greenland