Assuming that the gases are ideal, calculate the amount of work done (in joules) in the following reaction. Is work done on or by the system?
A reaction in the Mond process for purfying nickel(0) tetracarbonyl at 50-100 degrees Celsius. Assume one mole of nickel is used and a constant temperature of 75 degrees Celsius is maintained. Ni(s)+4CO(g) -> Ni(CO)4(g)
To calculate the amount of work done in the reaction, we can use the ideal gas equation and the concept of work done by or on the system.
First, let's write down the balanced equation for the reaction:
Ni(s) + 4CO(g) -> Ni(CO)4(g)
In this reaction, one mole of nickel reacts with four moles of carbon monoxide to form one mole of nickel tetracarbonyl gas.
To calculate the work done, we need to consider the pressure and volume changes during the reaction. However, since the question does not provide any information about the pressure or volume, we will assume that the reaction occurs at constant pressure and thus constant volume. This means the volume doesn't change, and therefore, no work is done in this specific case.
In other words, for a reaction occurring at constant volume, the work done is equal to zero. This is because work is defined as the product of pressure and volume change, and in this case, the volume is constant (no change), so the work done is zero.
Therefore, in this reaction, no work is done on or by the system.