“What mass of carbon dioxide (CO2) is produced when 32.1g of methane (CH4) reacts with oxygen (O2)?”
I’d like to know the exact steps it takes to understand the question? I feel like I am forgetting a formula that’d make this very simple. Any help is appreciated.
CH4 + O2 ---------> CO2 + H2O
CH4 + 2O2 ---------> CO2 + 2H2O
32.1g*(1 mole/16.04 g)=moles of CH4
moles of CH4=moles of CO2
moles of CO2" (44.01g/mole)=??? <=== 3 sig figs.
To understand how to solve this question, you need to know the mole-to-mole ratio between the reactants and products. From the balanced equation for the reaction between methane (CH4) and oxygen (O2) to produce carbon dioxide (CO2), the ratio is:
CH4 + 2O2 -> CO2 + 2H2O
In this equation, for every 1 mole of methane (CH4), 1 mole of carbon dioxide (CO2) is produced. Now let's go through the steps to solve the question:
Step 1: Convert the given mass of methane (CH4) to moles.
To do this, we need to find the molar mass of methane first. The molar mass of carbon (C) is 12.01 g/mol, and the molar mass of hydrogen (H) is 1.01 g/mol. Since methane (CH4) has 1 carbon and 4 hydrogen atoms, the molar mass is:
12.01 g/mol (C) + 4 * 1.01 g/mol (H) = 16.05 g/mol
Now we can convert the given mass of methane to moles:
32.1 g CH4 * (1 mol CH4 / 16.05 g CH4) = 1.998 mol CH4
Step 2: Use the mole-to-mole ratio to find moles of carbon dioxide (CO2).
Since the balanced equation tells us that for every 1 mole of methane (CH4), 1 mole of carbon dioxide (CO2) is produced, we can directly equate the mole values:
1.998 mol CH4 * (1 mol CO2 / 1 mol CH4) = 1.998 mol CO2
Step 3: Convert the moles of carbon dioxide (CO2) to grams.
To do this, we need to find the molar mass of carbon dioxide. Carbon (C) has a molar mass of 12.01 g/mol, and oxygen (O) has a molar mass of 16.00 g/mol. Since carbon dioxide (CO2) has 1 carbon and 2 oxygen atoms, the molar mass is:
12.01 g/mol (C) + 2 * 16.00 g/mol (O) = 44.01 g/mol
Now we can convert the moles of carbon dioxide to grams:
1.998 mol CO2 * (44.01 g CO2 / 1 mol CO2) = 87.95 g CO2
So, the mass of carbon dioxide (CO2) produced when 32.1 g of methane (CH4) reacts with oxygen (O2) is approximately 87.95 grams.