Calcium oxide, or lime, is produced by the thermal decomposition of limestone in the following reaction. What mass of lime can be produced from #1.5 x 10^3# kg of limestone?

enter image source here

1 Answer
anor277
Jul 7, 2017

Approx. #850*"tonnes"#

Explanation:

#CaCO_3(s) stackrel(Delta)rarr CaO(s) + CO_2(g)#

You have the stoichiometric equation, which tells you UNEQUIVOCALLY that #100.09*g# of #CaCO_3(s)# undergoes decomposition with heat to give #56.09*g# of so-called #"burnt lime"# or #"quicklime"# (i.e. #"calcium oxide"#) and #44.0*g# of carbon dioxide........

If you haven't already realized #"mass is conserved"#. What does this mean in this context?

With respect to #CaCO_3# we heated a molar quantity of #(1.5xx10^6*g)/(100.09*g*mol^-1)~=15000*mol#.

And thus if such a molar quantity of calcium carbonate were reacted we would get a molar quantity of #15000*mol# with respect to #"carbon dioxide"#........i.e. approx. #660*"tonnes"#. Take that atmosphere!

We also get #15000*molxx56.08*g*mol^-1=841*"tonnes"# with respect to #"calcium oxide"#, i.e. #"quicklime"#, #CaO#........

In what industry do you think that these reactions would have direct relevance? Or rather in what industry are these reactions routinely performed on these scales or larger?

Related questions
See all questions in Atomic Mass
Impact of this question
11929 views around the world
You can reuse this answer
Creative Commons License