Question

Sulfur dioxide is a gas released when volcanoes erupt. It can react with oxygen gas to form sulfur trioxide, a chemical that can harm living things.
Consider the following reaction:
2 molecules of sulfur dioxide (SO2) react with 1 molecule of oxygen (O2) to produce some amount of sulfur trioxide (SO3).
Use the number of atoms in the reaction to answer the question below.
Chemical element Number of atoms in the reaction
O 6
S 2
During this reaction, how many molecules of sulfur trioxide (SO3) are produced?

Answer 1

To determine the number of molecules of sulfur trioxide (SO₃) produced in the reaction where 2 molecules of sulfur dioxide (SO₂) react with 1 molecule of oxygen (O₂), we can start by writing the balanced chemical equation for the reaction:

\[ 2 \, \text{SO}_2 + \text{O}_2 \rightarrow 2 \, \text{SO}_3 \]

From this equation, we can see that for every 2 molecules of sulfur dioxide and 1 molecule of oxygen consumed, 2 molecules of sulfur trioxide are produced.

Thus, in this reaction, **2 molecules of sulfur trioxide (SO₃)** are produced.