Question

Use the unbalanced equation to answer the question.

Information
Upper C subscript 4 Upper H subscript 10 plus Upper O subscript 2 yields Upper C Upper O subscript 2 plus Upper H subscript 2 Upper O

Question
How many ,begin emphasis,molecules,end emphasis, of Upper O subscript 2 are needed to balance the equation?

Answer options with 4 options
A.
7

B.
12

C.
13

D.
26

Answer 1

To balance the unbalanced equation:

C₄H₁₀ + O₂ → CO₂ + H₂O

we need to ensure that the number of each type of atom is the same on both sides of the equation.

1. **Count the atoms in C₄H₁₀:**
- Carbon (C): 4
- Hydrogen (H): 10

2. **Count the atoms in the products:**
- Let's use coefficients to balance the reaction:
- Start with carbon: To balance 4 carbons, we need 4 CO₂.
- Start with hydrogen: To balance 10 hydrogens, we need 5 H₂O molecules.

So the equation looks like:

C₄H₁₀ + O₂ → 4 CO₂ + 5 H₂O

3. **Count the oxygens on the right side:**
- From 4 CO₂: 4 × 2 = 8 O
- From 5 H₂O: 5 × 1 = 5 O
- Total O = 8 + 5 = 13 O

4. **Since O₂ has 2 O atoms, we can find the number of O₂ molecules needed:**
- To get 13 O atoms, we need 13/2 = 6.5 O₂ molecules.

Since we typically don't use fractions for number of molecules, we can multiply the entire equation by 2 for whole numbers:

2 C₄H₁₀ + 13 O₂ → 8 CO₂ + 10 H₂O

Now, we can see that we need **13 O₂ molecules** to balance the equation.

Therefore, the answer is:

**C. 13**