How many moles of sodium ions are there in 5.85g NaCl?
So far all I have tried to do is 5.85/58.5=0.1 mol of NaCl but I don't understand how you find the number of moles of sodium ions only.
You have 0.1 mol NaCl. That's correct.
So there is 1 mol Na/1 mol NaCl and 1 mol Cl/1 mol NaCl. Right?
To find the number of moles of sodium ions in 5.85g of NaCl, you need to consider the molar mass and the stoichiometry of the compound.
The molar mass of NaCl is the sum of the atomic masses of sodium (Na) and chloride (Cl), which are 22.99 g/mol and 35.45 g/mol, respectively. Adding them together gives a molar mass of 58.44 g/mol for NaCl.
You correctly determined that there are 0.1 moles of NaCl by dividing the mass by the molar mass. However, to find the number of moles of sodium ions only, you need to consider the stoichiometry of NaCl.
In one formula unit of NaCl, there is one sodium ion (Na+) and one chloride ion (Cl-). Therefore, the ratio of sodium ions to NaCl is 1:1.
This means that if there are 0.1 moles of NaCl, there are also 0.1 moles of sodium ions. So the answer is 0.1 moles of sodium ions.
To summarize:
1. Calculate the molar mass of NaCl (Na + Cl) = 22.99 g/mol + 35.45 g/mol = 58.44 g/mol.
2. Divide the mass of NaCl (5.85g) by the molar mass (58.44 g/mol) to find the number of moles of NaCl: 5.85g / 58.44 g/mol = 0.1 mol NaCl.
3. Since the ratio of sodium ions (Na+) to NaCl is 1:1, the number of moles of sodium ions is also 0.1 mol.