Nitric acid can be produced by the reaction of
gaseous nitrogen dioxide with water.
3 NO2(g) + H2O(ℓ) −→
2 HNO3(ℓ) + NO(g)
If 900 L of NO2 gas react with water, what
volume of NO gas will be produced? Assume
the gases are measured under the same
conditions.
Answer in L.
When dealing with gases we can use a shortcut and use L as if it were mols.
900 L NO2 x (1 mol NO/3 mols NO2) = ?
To solve this problem, we need to use the stoichiometry of the reaction to determine the volume of NO gas produced.
According to the balanced equation, the molar ratio between NO2 and NO is 3:1, which means that for every 3 moles of NO2, we will produce 1 mole of NO.
To find the moles of NO2, we can use the ideal gas law equation:
PV = nRT
Where:
P = pressure (assumed to be constant)
V = volume of the NO2 gas (given as 900 L)
n = moles of NO2 (unknown)
R = ideal gas constant
T = temperature (assumed to be constant)
Since we need to find the volume of NO gas, we don't need to calculate the moles of NO2. Instead, we can use the molar ratio mentioned earlier to directly convert the volume of NO2 to the volume of NO.
Given that the molar ratio is 3:1, we can set up a proportion to solve for the volume of NO gas:
(900 L NO2) / 3 = V NO
Simplifying the equation, we have:
V NO = (900 L NO2) / 3
V NO = 300 L
Therefore, 300 liters of NO gas will be produced when 900 liters of NO2 gas react with water.