Ethane(a minor constituent of natural gas) burns in oxygen to form carbon dioxide and water. How many moles of oxygen are needed to react with one moles of ethane?
C2H6 + 7/2O2 => 2CO2 + 3HOH
moles O2 consumed permole C2H6 = 7/2 mole = 3.5 moles O2 per mole C2H6.
To determine how many moles of oxygen are needed to react with one mole of ethane, we need to refer to the balanced chemical equation for the combustion of ethane.
The balanced equation is:
C2H6 + O2 -> CO2 + H2O
From the equation, we see that the stoichiometric ratio between ethane (C2H6) and oxygen (O2) is 1:3. This means that for every one mole of ethane, we need three moles of oxygen.
Therefore, one mole of ethane requires three moles of oxygen to react completely.