Liquid hexane will react with gaseous oxygen to produce gaseous carbon dioxide and gaseous water . Suppose 3.45 g of hexane is mixed with 16.3 g of oxygen. Calculate the maximum mass of carbon dioxide that could be produced by the chemical reaction. Be sure your answer has the correct number of significant digits.

Write and balance the equation.

Convert g hexane to moles. moles = grams/molar mass.
Likewise for moles oxygen.
Using the coefficients in the balanced equation, convert moles hexane to moles CO2.
Do the same for moles oxygen to moles CO2. You will obtain two different answers; obviously both can't be right. The correct answer in limiting reagent problems is ALWAYS the smaller value and the reagent producing that number is the limiting reagent. Then convert the small number to grams. g = moles x molar mass.

Be sure your answer has the correct number of significant digits..

As both the starting values are to 2 sig figs, and assuming that you use molar masses that have 3 sig figs or greater then the answer should be to 3 sig figs.

To calculate the maximum mass of carbon dioxide produced, we need to determine the limiting reactant. The limiting reactant is the reactant that is completely consumed and limits the amount of product formed.

First, we need to convert the given masses of hexane and oxygen into moles using their respective molecular weights.

Molecular weight of hexane (C6H14) = 86.18 g/mol
Molecular weight of oxygen (O2) = 32.00 g/mol

Moles of hexane = mass / molecular weight = 3.45 g / 86.18 g/mol = 0.040 moles
Moles of oxygen = mass / molecular weight = 16.3 g / 32.00 g/mol = 0.509 moles

Next, we need to write and balance the chemical equation to determine the stoichiometric ratio between hexane and carbon dioxide.

The balanced equation is:

2 C6H14 + 19 O2 -> 12 CO2 + 14 H2O

From the balanced equation, we can see that for every 2 moles of hexane, 12 moles of carbon dioxide are produced.

So, the ratio between moles of hexane and moles of carbon dioxide is 2:12, which simplifies to 1:6.

Since the molar ratio is 1:6, the moles of carbon dioxide produced can be calculated as follows:

Moles of carbon dioxide = moles of hexane * (moles of carbon dioxide / moles of hexane)
= 0.040 moles * (12 moles / 2 moles)
= 0.240 moles

Finally, we can convert the moles of carbon dioxide into grams using its molecular weight.

Molecular weight of carbon dioxide (CO2) = 44.01 g/mol

Mass of carbon dioxide = moles of carbon dioxide * molecular weight = 0.240 moles * 44.01 g/mol = 10.56240 g

Therefore, the maximum mass of carbon dioxide that could be produced is 10.56 g (rounded to the correct number of significant digits).

To calculate the maximum mass of carbon dioxide that could be produced by the chemical reaction, we need to determine the limiting reactant first. The limiting reactant is the one that is completely consumed in the reaction and determines the maximum amount of product that can be formed.

To find the limiting reactant, we compare the moles of hexane and oxygen using their respective molar masses.

The molar mass of hexane (C6H14) is:
6 * molar mass of carbon (12.01 g/mol) + 14 * molar mass of hydrogen (1.01 g/mol) = 86.18 g/mol

The molar mass of oxygen (O2) is:
2 * molar mass of oxygen (16.00 g/mol) = 32.00 g/mol

Next, we convert the masses of hexane and oxygen to moles.

Moles of hexane = 3.45 g / 86.18 g/mol = 0.040 moles (rounded to 3 significant digits)

Moles of oxygen = 16.3 g / 32.00 g/mol = 0.509 moles (rounded to 3 significant digits)

Now we need to determine the stoichiometry of the reaction. The balanced chemical equation is:

2 C6H14 + 19 O2 -> 12 CO2 + 14 H2O

From the balanced equation, we can see that it takes 2 moles of hexane (C6H14) to react with 19 moles of oxygen (O2) to produce 12 moles of carbon dioxide (CO2).

Let's compare the moles of hexane and oxygen to determine the limiting reactant:

Moles of hexane / coefficient of hexane = 0.040 moles / 2 = 0.020 moles (rounded to 3 significant digits)

Moles of oxygen / coefficient of oxygen = 0.509 moles / 19 = 0.027 moles (rounded to 3 significant digits)

Since 0.020 moles of hexane is less than 0.027 moles of oxygen, hexane is the limiting reactant.

Now we can calculate the maximum mass of carbon dioxide produced.

Molar mass of carbon dioxide (CO2) = molar mass of carbon (12.01 g/mol) + 2 * molar mass of oxygen (16.00 g/mol) = 44.01 g/mol

Moles of carbon dioxide produced = moles of hexane * (coefficient of carbon dioxide / coefficient of hexane) = 0.020 moles * (12 / 2) = 0.120 moles (rounded to 3 significant digits)

Mass of carbon dioxide produced = moles of carbon dioxide produced * molar mass of carbon dioxide = 0.120 moles * 44.01 g/mol = 5.282 g (rounded to 3 significant digits)

Therefore, the maximum mass of carbon dioxide that could be produced by the chemical reaction is 5.282 grams.