# About 60 million tonnes of calcium oxide is made in Britain each year. How would you calculate the mass of calcium carbonate needed to make this amount of calcium oxide?

Apr 9, 2017

We need (i) a stoichiometric equation:

$C a C {O}_{3} \left(s\right) + \Delta \rightarrow C a O \left(s\right) + C {O}_{2} \left(g\right) \uparrow$

#### Explanation:

And (ii) equivalent quantities of calcium oxide...........

$= \frac{60 \times {10}^{6} \cdot {\text{tonnes"xx10^6*g*"tonne}}^{-} 1}{56.8 \cdot g \cdot m o {l}^{-} 1}$

$= 1.06 \times {10}^{12} \cdot \text{moles CaO}$

Given the 1:1 stoichiometry, we generate $1.06 \times {10}^{12} \cdot m o l$ carbon dioxide gas, and CLEARLY we require $1.06 \times {10}^{12} \cdot m o l \cdot C a C {O}_{3}$.

And this represents a mass of .....................................

$1.06 \times {10}^{12} \cdot m o l \times 100.06 \cdot g \cdot m o {l}^{-} 1 = 1.06 \times {10}^{14} \cdot g =$

$1.06 \times {10}^{11} \cdot k g$

Note that while this seems a large quantity, this is almost exclusively used for the production of mortar and concrete, i.e. building materials.