In the decomposition of water, why is twice as much hydrogen as oxygen formed?
Responses
There are two atoms of hydrogen and one atom of oxygen in a water molecule.
Some oxygen gas escapes the reaction, and hydrogen gas is conserved.
Hydrogen gas has two atoms, and oxygen gas has one atom.
Hydrogen atoms are twice the size of oxygen atoms.
There are two atoms of hydrogen and one atom of oxygen in a water molecule.
The correct answer is: There are two atoms of hydrogen and one atom of oxygen in a water molecule.
The correct answer is: There are two atoms of hydrogen and one atom of oxygen in a water molecule.
To understand why twice as much hydrogen as oxygen is formed in the decomposition of water, let's break down the chemical formula of water (H2O). It tells us that there are two atoms of hydrogen (H) and one atom of oxygen (O) in every water molecule.
When water is decomposed, it results in the separation of hydrogen and oxygen from each other. However, it is important to note that the basic principle of chemical reactions is the law of conservation of mass, which states that matter cannot be created or destroyed. Therefore, the total number of atoms of each element before and after the reaction must be the same.
Since there are two hydrogen atoms in each water molecule, when water decomposes, these two hydrogen atoms are released separately. On the other hand, there is only one oxygen atom in each water molecule. Consequently, for every water molecule that decomposes, only one oxygen atom is released.
As a result, twice as much hydrogen is formed compared to oxygen because there are twice as many hydrogen atoms in a water molecule in the first place. This is due to the ratio of hydrogen to oxygen atoms in the chemical formula of water (H2O), where the subscript 2 indicates that there are two hydrogen atoms for every oxygen atom.
Therefore, the correct explanation is that there are two atoms of hydrogen and one atom of oxygen in a water molecule.