# Question 670ca

Jul 5, 2017

${\text{2 moles N}}_{2}$

#### Explanation:

The decomposition of sodium azide to sodium metal and nitrogen gas can be described by the following balanced chemical equation

$\textcolor{b l u e}{2} {\text{NaN"_ (3(s)) stackrel(color(white)(acolor(red)(Delta)aaa))(->) 2"Na"_ ((s)) + color(green)(3)"N}}_{2 \left(g\right)} \uparrow$

Notice that for every $\textcolor{b l u e}{2}$ moles of sodium azide that undergo decomposition, you get $\textcolor{g r e e n}{3}$ moles of nitrogen gas.

This means that your reaction will produce

1 color(red)(cancel(color(black)("mole NaN"_3))) * (color(green)(3)color(white)(.)"moles N"_2)/(color(blue)(2)color(red)(cancel(color(black)("mole NaN"_3)))) = "1.5 moles N"_2#

Keep in mind that the answer must be rounded to one significant figure because that's the number of sig figs you have for your data.

This means that you have

$\textcolor{\mathrm{da} r k g r e e n}{\underline{\textcolor{b l a c k}{\text{moles of N"_2 = "2 moles}}}}$

As a fun fact, it's worth mentioning that this reaction is used to inflate airbags in cars.