When methane (ch4) is burned with oxygen, the products are carbon dioxide and water. if you produce 9 grams of water and 11 grams of carbon dioxide from 16 grams of oxygen, how many grams of methane were needed for the reaction?

Question

Chemistry

Tara

18 July, 11:21

When methane (ch4) is burned with oxygen, the products are carbon dioxide and water. if you produce 9 grams of water and 11 grams of carbon dioxide from 16 grams of oxygen, how many grams of methane were needed for the reaction?

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Benjamin Cohen · Answer 1

The balanced equation for the combustion of methane is:

CH4 + 2O2 - - > CO2 + 2H2O

Therefore for every mole of CH4 burned, one mole of CO2 is produced. We can use the mass of CO2 and its relative molecular mass to calculate the moles of CO2 produced. The rmm of CO2 is 44.0 g/mol, therefore the numbers of moles of CO2 = 11 / 44.0 = 0.25 moles. Therefore 0.25 moles of CH4 were burned, which has a rmm of 16.0 g/mol, therefore the mass of CH4 burned was 0.25 * 16.0 = 4.0 g