Nitroglycerin, C3H5N3O9, is a shock sensitive liquid (density = 1.450 g/mL) that detonates by the reaction

4 C3H5N3O9(l) ® 10H2O(g) + O2(g) + 6N2(g) + 12CO2(g)

How many grams of N2 will be produced during the detonation of 2.813 L of nitroglycerin?

1 answer

This is a simple stochiometric question
first convert to grams using density.
2813(mL)*1.45(g/mL) = 4078.85g
then convert this to moles of Nitroglycerin (requires molar mass)
(4078.85g)/(227.087g/mol)= 17.96mol of C3H5N3O9
Next, use your mol ratios to convert to moles of M2
(17.96mol(of NitroG.))*(6molN2/4molsC3H5N3O9)= 26.94mol N2
Next convert to grams of N2 using molar mass of N2 (28.02g/mol)
26.94mol*(28.02g/mol) = 754.93g N2 (rounded from 754.926)
if using correct sig figs then it would just be 754.9g N2