what is the formula to determine the mass of propane that must be combusted in order to produce 188.23kJ of energy?

You need the heat of combustion per mol of propane. Then

kJ/mol x mol = 188.23 kJ.
Solve for mol and convert that to grams. g = mols x molar mass.

To determine the mass of propane that must be combusted to produce a certain amount of energy, we need to use the energy conversion factor and the heat of combustion of propane.

To begin, we need to know the heat of combustion of propane, which represents the energy released when one mole of propane is completely burned. The heat of combustion of propane is approximately 2220 kJ/mol.

Using this information, we can set up the following equation:

Energy produced = Mass of propane x Heat of combustion of propane

Now, let's rearrange the equation to solve for the mass of propane:

Mass of propane = Energy produced / Heat of combustion of propane

Substituting the given values into the equation, we have:

Mass of propane = 188.23 kJ / 2220 kJ/mol

To cancel out the units and determine the mass in moles, we divide the energy produced by the heat of combustion of propane:

Mass of propane = 0.08488 moles

To convert moles to grams, we need to multiply the number of moles by the molar mass of propane. The molar mass of propane is approximately 44.1 g/mol:

Mass of propane = 0.08488 moles x 44.1 g/mol

Calculating this, we find that the mass of propane that must be combusted to produce 188.23 kJ of energy is approximately 3.752 grams.