Question

What mass of `"mercuric oxide"` is required to generate `2.56xx10^24` `"dioxygen molecules"`?

Answer 1

A bit under `2*kg` of mercuric salt.....

Explanation:

We interrogate the following reaction....

`HgO(s) + Delta rarr Hg(l) + 1/2O_2(g)uarr`

And this is a classic chemical reaction historically, in that old Lavoisier used this process to demonstrate the existence of oxygen gas....

And with respect to dioxygen gas, we gots a molar quantity of `(2.56xx10^24*"molecules")/(6.022xx10^23*"molecules"*mol^-1)=4.25*mol`

And given the equation, we need a `8.50*mol` quantity of `HgO`...i.e. a mass of `8.50*molxx216.59*g*mol^-1=??*g`