Question

Aqueous sulfuric acid will react with solid sodium hydroxide to produce aqueous sodium sulfate and liquid water . Suppose 6.9 g of sulfuric acid is mixed with 3.14 g of sodium hydroxide. Calculate the maximum mass of sodium sulfate that could be produced by the chemical reaction. Be sure your answer has the correct number of significant digits.

Answer 1

Answer:

$5.6gNa_2SO_4$

Explanation:

Hello,

In this case, the undergoing chemical reaction is:

$2NaOH(aq)+H_2SO_4(aq)\rightarrow Na_2SO_4(aq)+2H_2O(l)$

Therefore, since the masses of both of the reactants are given, one computes the available moles of sulfuric acid and those moles of it consumed by the sodium hydroxide as shown below:

$n_{H_2SO_4}^{available}=6.9gH_2SO_4*\frac{1molH_2SO_4}{98gH_2SO_4}=0.0704molH_2SO_4\\n_{H_2SO_4}^{consumed\ by\ NaOH}=3.14gNaOH*\frac{1molNaOH}{40gNaOH}*\frac{1molH_2SO_4}{2molNaOH}=0.04molH_2SO_4$

In such a way, since there is more available sulfuric acid than it that is consumed, the sodium hydroxide is the limiting reagent, consequently, the maximum mass of sodium sulfate turns out:

$m_{Na_2SO_4}=0.04molH_2SO_4*\frac{1molNa_2SO_4}{1molH_2SO_4} *\frac{142.04gNa_2SO_4}{1molNa_2SO_4}=5.6gNa_2SO_4$

Best regards.