Question #c26f4

1 Answer
Nov 5, 2017

#7.31 * 10^(-22)# #"g"#

Explanation:

A useful thing to know in order to be able to calculate the mass of #10# molecules of carbon dioxide would be the mass of a single molecule of this substance.

As you know, carbon dioxide has a molar mass of #"44.01 g mol"^(-1)#. This tells you that #1# mole of carbon dioxide has a mass of #"44.01 g"#.

In other words, if you have #6.022 * 10^(23)# molecules of carbon dioxide, the number of molecules needed to get #1# mole--this is known as Avogadro's constant--you can say that the sample has a mass of #"44.01 g"#.

#"44.01 g " implies " "overbrace(6.022 * 10^(23)color(white)(.)"molecules CO"_2)^(color(blue)("equivalent to 1 mole of CO"_2))#

This means that a single molecule of carbon dioxide will have a mass of

#1 color(red)(cancel(color(black)("molecule CO"_2))) * "44.01 g"/(6.022 * 10^(23)color(red)(cancel(color(black)("molecules CO"_2)))) = 7.31 * 10^(-23)color(white)(.)"g"#

Therefore, you can say that #1# molecules of carbon dioxide will have a mass of

#10 color(red)(cancel(color(black)("molecules CO"_2))) * (7.31 * 10^(-23)color(white)(.)"g")/(1color(red)(cancel(color(black)("molecule CO"_2)))) = color(darkgreen)(ul(color(black)(7.31 * 10^(-22)color(white)(.)"g"#

I'll leave the answer rounded to three sig figs.