In winemaking, the sugars in grapes undergo fermentation by yeast to yield CH3CH2OH and CO2. During cellular respiration, sugar and enthanol are "burned" to water vapor andCO2.

Write a combustion reaction for ethanol.

I need help with balancing the equation
i think it's

C2H6OH(l) + 3O2(g) ---> 2CO2(g) + 3H2O(g)

am I correct?..thanks!•chemistry - paul, Sunday, October 25, 2015 at 3:06pm
looks good to me, except the C2H6OH should be C2H5OH.

comment:

I did that, but it said...try again!

then it said HINT:
Start by writing a balanced chemical equation for the fermentation reaction of C6H12O6 and for the respiration reaction (combustion) of C6H12O6...what formula should be used to find the standard enthalpy of a reaction? Use the standard enthalpy of formation values from your textbook when calculating the standard enthalpy of reaction for both fermentation and respiration. thanks!

The combustion reaction for ethanol is indeed:

C2H5OH(l) + 3O2(g) ---> 2CO2(g) + 3H2O(g)

However, if you are being asked to consider a more general combustion reaction involving glucose (C6H12O6) instead of ethanol, the balanced equation would be:

C6H12O6(aq) + 6O2(g) ---> 6CO2(g) + 6H2O(g)

To find the standard enthalpy of a reaction, you can use the formula:

ΔH° = ΣnΔH°f(products) - ΣmΔH°f(reactants)

where ΔH° is the standard enthalpy change of the reaction, ΣnΔH°f(products) is the sum of the standard enthalpies of formation of the products (multiplied by their respective stoichiometric coefficients), and ΣmΔH°f(reactants) is the sum of the standard enthalpies of formation of the reactants (multiplied by their respective stoichiometric coefficients).

To write a balanced combustion equation for ethanol, we need to consider that ethanol is composed of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen atoms. The balanced equation for the combustion of ethanol is as follows:

C2H5OH(l) + 3O2(g) → 2CO2(g) + 3H2O(g)

In this equation, C2H5OH represents ethanol, O2 represents oxygen, CO2 represents carbon dioxide, and H2O represents water vapor.

However, it seems like you encountered an issue with your answer. The problem may lie in the fact that the reactant is written as "C2H6OH," which should actually be written as "C2H5OH." The correct formula for ethanol is C2H5OH, where the "2" in C2H5 represents two carbon atoms, the "5" in C2H5 represents five hydrogen atoms, and the "1" in OH represents one hydroxyl group (OH).

Double-checking your equation and making sure that you properly replaced "C2H6OH" with "C2H5OH" should resolve the issue.