Question

The combustion of methanol (CH4O) is described by this balanced chemical equation: 2CH4O(g) + 3O2(g) → 4H2O(g) + 2CO2(g) Methanol and oxygen (O2) will always react in a ratio of _____.

Answer 1

Answer: Methanol and oxygen will always react in a ratio of 2:3

Explanation:

$2CH_4O(g)+3O_2(g)\rightarrow 4H_2O(g)+2CO_2(g)$

According to the law of conservation of mass, the mass of products must  be same as the mass of reactants and thus the number of atoms on the product side must be equal to the number of atoms on the reactant side.

Thus methanol and oxygen will always react in the mole ratio of 2:3.

Answer 2

Two moles of methanol to three moles of oxygen