To determine how much water can form would depend on what the acetic acid is reacting with. However, a very common reaction of acetic acid that leads to the formation of water is the condensation that occurs during the esterification process. We can react acetic acid with an alcohol, such as methanol, and form the ester and water.
CH₃CO₂H + CH₃OH → CH₃CO₂CH₃ + H₂O
The mole ratio of water to acetic acid is 1:1. We can now use the mass of acetic acid to find the moles, which we can convert to moles of water:
5.10 g CH₃CO₂H / 60 g/mol = 0.085 mol CH₃CO₂H x 1 mol H₂O/1 mol CH₃CO₂H = 0.085 mol H₂O
0.085 mol H₂O x 18 g/mol = 1.53 g H₂O
In the reaction provided, assuming the reaction goes to completion, 5.10 g of acetic acid can form 1.53 g of water.
