Very confused!
Converting between grams of a compound and grams of a constituent element
Determine the mass of oxygen in a 5.8 g of NaHCO3
5.8 g NaCHO3 * 1 mol NaCHO3/ 84.01 NaCHO3 * 48.00 mol O / 1 mol NaCHO3 * 16.00 g O/ 1 mol = I got 53 but the answer is 3.3 g O
Help what am I doing wrong
I will do it in steps and you can put it all together if you wish.
5.8 g/84.01 = moles NaHCO3.
There are 3 atoms O per 1 mole NaHCO3; therefore, moles NaHCO3 x 3 = moles O atoms.
Then moles O atoms x 16 g/mol = g O atoms. 3.3g is correct.
Ok what I did wrong was say 48 O atoms instead of just 3. Thank you very much
Let's break down the calculation step by step to identify the mistake:
1. Start with the given mass of NaHCO3: 5.8 g NaHCO3.
2. Convert the mass of NaHCO3 to moles using the molar mass of NaHCO3 (84.01 g/mol): 5.8 g NaHCO3 * (1 mol NaHCO3 / 84.01 g NaHCO3) = 0.069 mol NaHCO3.
3. Use the mole ratio between NaHCO3 and O to calculate the number of moles of O: 0.069 mol NaHCO3 * (48.00 mol O / 1 mol NaHCO3) = 3.312 mol O.
4. Finally, convert the moles of O to grams using the molar mass of O (16.00 g/mol): 3.312 mol O * (16.00 g O / 1 mol O) = 53 g O.
Based on your calculation, you correctly determined that the number of moles of O is 3.312 mol. However, there seems to be a mistake in the final conversion to grams. The correct answer should indeed be 53 g O, not 3.3 g O.
Therefore, it appears that your calculation is correct, but perhaps there was an error in writing down the final answer.