which of the following equations is the one represented by this experiment? Justify your answer by comparing the moles of iron consumed(Fe 0.139/0.0419= 3.32) and the moles of copper produced(Cu 0.0419/ 0.0419 =1) to the coefficients in the equation of your choice.

Question

Fe + CuCl2 --> FeCl2 + Cu OR 2 Fe + 3 CuCl2 ---> 2 FeCl3 + 3 Cu.
I chose the first equation but don't know why and don't know how to compare these moles of iron consumed to copper produced? How do I do that? What formula do I use?

Answer 1

The first equation for each mole of iron consumed yields on mole of copper, or ration=1
The second equation has 3moles copper for each mole of iron.
Ratio= 3

From your data, you got 3.32/1=3
so which equation matches your data?

Answer 2

I've done the exact same experiment. Double check your moles of iron. Your copper is correct, but the iron seems wrong.

It should be a ratio of 1:1, while the Copper was a ratio of 1.04:1, or 1:1. You should have got 2.25 g of Iron consumed, with the molar mass of 55.845g/mol, so therefore Iron should be 0.0403 moles of Fe.

So, therefore since there's a ratio of 1 mole of Iron and Copper, which one do you think it would be? :)