According to the Law of Conservation of Mass, the total mass of reactants must be equal to the total mass of products in a chemical reaction.
In the given reaction, the products are carbon dioxide (CO2). The atomic mass of carbon (C) is 12 g/mole and the atomic mass of oxygen (O) is 16 g/mole. Therefore, the molecular mass of CO2 is:
12 g/mole (mass of carbon) + (2 * 16 g/mole) (mass of two oxygen atoms) = 44 g/mole
If 98 g of carbon dioxide is produced, then the number of moles of CO2 can be calculated as:
98 g / 44 g/mole ≈ 2.23 moles of CO2
Since one mole of carbon dioxide (CO2) contains one mole of carbon (C) and 2 moles of oxygen (O), there must be twice the number of moles of oxygen in the reactants as in the carbon dioxide. Therefore, the number of moles of dioxygen (O2) in the reactants is:
2 * 2.23 moles = 4.46 moles of O2
To find the mass of dioxygen in the reactants, we multiply the number of moles by the atomic mass of oxygen (O), which is 16 g/mole:
4.46 moles × 16 g/mole ≈ 71.36 g
Therefore, the approximate mass of dioxygen in the reactants is 71.36 grams.
According to the Law of Conservation of Mass, if 98 g of carbon dioxide is produced in a reaction between oxygen and 24 g of carbon, what is the mass of dioxygen in the reactants?
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