Question #f2548

1 Answer
anor277
Oct 8, 2016

Approx. #16%# with respect to the starting mass of potassium nitrate.

Explanation:

We assume that (under fierce heating), #"potassium nitrate"# decomposes to give stoichiometric #"potassium nitrite"# and #"dioxygen gas"#:

#KNO_3(s) + Delta rarr KNO_2(s) + 1/2O_2(g)uarr#

And thus #1# #mol# of #"potassium nitrate"# loses #16*g# of oxygen gas upon decomposition. With respect to #KNO_3#, this represents a mass loss of:

#(16*g)/(101.17*g)xx100%# #~=# #16%#

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