Question

When 3.0 g of carbon is burnt in 8.0 g of oxygen, 11.0 g of carbon dioxide is produced. what is the mass of carbon dioxide will be formed when 3.0 g of carbon is burnt in 50.0 g of oxygen? Which law of chemical combination will govern the answer?

Answer 1

A mass of `11.0*g` of carbon dioxide will again be produced.

Explanation:

When a `3.0*g` mass of carbon is burnt in an `8.0*g` mass of dioxygen, the carbon and the oxygen are stoichiometrically equivalent. Of course, the combustion reaction proceeds according to the following reaction:

`C(s) + O_2(g) rarr CO_2(g)`

When a `3.0*g` mass of carbon is burnt in an `50.0*g` mass of dioxygen, the oxygen is present in stoichiometric excess. The `42.0*g` excess of dioxygen is along for the ride.

The law of conservation of mass, `"garbage in equals garbage out"`, applies for both examples.

Most of the time, in coal-fired generators, and certainly in the internal combustion engine, carbon oxidation is incomplete, and `CO` gas and particulate carbon as soot, are products with `CO_2`.

Capisce?