A 5.00 g mixture of methane (CH4) and ethane (C2H6) is combusted in oxygen gas to produce carbon dioxide and water. If 14.09 g of CO2 is produced, how many grams of methane was in the original 5.00 g mixture?

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Chemistry

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13 August, 20:47

A 5.00 g mixture of methane (CH4) and ethane (C2H6) is combusted in oxygen gas to produce carbon dioxide and water. If 14.09 g of CO2 is produced, how many grams of methane was in the original 5.00 g mixture?

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Espinoza · Answer 1

We have two unknowns for this problem. These are the amount of Ch4 and the amount of C2H6. We let these as x and y respectively. It should be that we generate two equation in order to solve this problem. We do as follows:

Equation 1:

x + y = 5

Equation 2

CO2 produced from CH4 + CO2 produced from C2H6 = 14.09

x (44.01/16.05) + y (4) (44.01) / (2) (30.08) = 14.09

2.74x + 2.93y = 14.09

Solving simultaneously,

x = 2.95 g CH4

y = 2.05 g C2H6