When iron metal reacts with oxygen, the reaction can form Fe2O3. Write a balanced chemical equation for this reaction, and find the number of moles of oxygen that are needed to form 6 mol of Fe2O3. Show your work.
you need 3 O for 2 Fe
___O is diatomic
4 Fe + 3 O2 --> 2 Fe2O3
3 moles of O2 for 2 moles of Fe2O3
so you need 3 times as much for 6 moles
To write the balanced chemical equation for the reaction between iron metal (Fe) and oxygen (O2) to form iron(III) oxide (Fe2O3), we need to ensure that there is an equal number of atoms of each element on both sides of the equation.
The balanced chemical equation for this reaction is:
4 Fe + 3 O2 → 2 Fe2O3
Now, let's determine the number of moles of oxygen needed to form 6 moles of Fe2O3.
According to the balanced equation, we know that:
4 moles of Fe react with 3 moles of O2 to form 2 moles of Fe2O3
From this information, we can set up the following proportion to find the number of moles of O2:
(3 moles of O2 / 2 moles of Fe2O3) = (x moles of O2 / 6 moles of Fe2O3)
By cross-multiplying and solving for x, we get:
3 moles of O2 = (2 moles of Fe2O3 * 6 moles of O2) / 4 moles of Fe
= 12 moles of O2 / 4 moles of Fe
= 3 moles of O2
Therefore, 3 moles of oxygen are needed to form 6 moles of Fe2O3.
Please note that in stoichiometry calculations, we assume that all reactants are completely used up and the reaction goes to completion.