Diatomic O2 can react with the element magnesium to form magnesium oxide (MgO). The balanced chemical equation is:
If 4 moles of magnesium totally reacted with more than enough O2, how many moles of MgO would be expected to form?
well, clearly, each mole of Mg produces one mole of MgO.
2Mg + O2 ==> 2MgO
4 mole
To determine the number of moles of MgO expected to form, we need to use the balanced chemical equation for the reaction between diatomic oxygen (O2) and magnesium (Mg):
2 Mg + O2 → 2 MgO
According to the balanced equation, it takes 2 moles of magnesium to react with 1 mole of O2 to produce 2 moles of MgO.
Since we know that 4 moles of magnesium reacted with more than enough O2, we can calculate the moles of MgO formed by using the stoichiometric ratio.
Given that 4 moles of magnesium reacted:
The ratio of moles of Mg to moles of MgO is 2:2.
The ratio of moles of O2 to moles of MgO is 1:2.
Since we have more than enough O2, the limiting reagent is magnesium. This means that all of the magnesium will be used up in the reaction, and the moles of MgO formed will be equal to the moles of magnesium used. Thus, 4 moles of MgO would be expected to form.