Question

Each astronaut produces 8.8 x 10^2 g CO2 per day that must be removed from the air on the shuttle. If a typical shuttle mission is 9 days, and the shuttle can carry 3.50 x 10^4 g LiOH, what is the maximum number of people the shuttle can carry for one mission

Answer 1

The answer to this would be:

The shuttle can carry a maximum of 4 astronauts for one mission.

2 LiOH + CO2 -----> Li2CO3 + H2O

(3.50 × 10^4 g LiOH) (1 mol LiOH/ 24 g LiOH) ( 1 mol CO2 / 2 mol LiOH) ( 44 g CO2 /1 mol CO2) = 32, 083.33 g CO2

32, 083.33 g / 9 (8.8 × 10^2) = 4