Question

Imagine you only have 100 mL of acetic acid. How could you determine how much baking soda to add to get the largest amount of gas possible?

Answer 1

Answer:

• Find out the concentraion of the acetic acid, calculate the number of moles, which is equal to the number of moles of baking soda, and then multiply by the molar mass of baking soda to convert to mass in grams.

Explanation:

You need the concentration of the acetic acid.

With the concentration you can find the number of moles of acid in the given 100mL of acetic acid solution.

• # of moles = molar concentration × number of liters of solution

By stoichiometry of the reaction, you determine the number of moles of baking soda:

CH₃COOH(aq) + NaHCO₃(aq)  → CH₃COONa(aq) + CO₂(g)  + H₂O(aq)

        ↑                        ↑                                                   ↑

acetic acid         baking soda                                        gas

 

From that balanced molecular equation, you find that 1 mole of acetic acid react with 1 mole of baking soda.

Then, using the molar mass of bakind soda, you convert the number of moles into mass in grams:

• mass in grams = number of moles × molar mass.

Then, adding that mass of baking soda, may be a little excess to be sure, all the acetic acid would be consumed getting the largest amount of gas possible.