An average hot water tank will hold 300.0 L of water needs to be kept at 65.0OC in order to kill any bacteria in the water. If you are filling a new tank with water at a starting temperature of 12.5OC, what mass of natural gas (methane) must be burned in a complete combustion reaction in order bring your tank up to the correct temperature?

Question

DrBob222 · Accepted Answer

How much heat do you need?Assuming density of H2O is 1.0 g/mL, then That's
q = mass H2O x specific heat H2O x (Tfinal-Tinitial)
q = 300,000 g 4.194 J/g*C x (65.00 - 12.50) = ? J

Then CH4 + 2O2 ==> CO2 + 2H2O
Look up the heat of combustion for CH4. It will be listed in J/mol or kJ/mol or something like that.
Then heat combustion x (q from above/16) = CH4 needed
Keep the units straight. My guess is that your question has specific heat and heat of combustion listed and it would have been nice for you to include them in the post. I don't remember all of those numbers. Post your work if you get stuck.

Naeem R · Answer

Thank you DrBob222, really appreciate it!

Naeem R · Answer

I apparently we have to use formation to find the combustion of methane

DrBob222 · Answer

heat of combustion CH4 on Google is 890.6 kJ/mol = 890,6 kJ/16 g