7) The fuel used to power the booster rockets on the space shuttle is a mixture of aluminum metal and ammonium perchlorate. The
following balanced equation represents the reaction of these two ingredients: 3Al + 3NH4ClO4 → Al2O3 + AlCl3 + 3NO + 6H2O a. If 1.50 × 105 g of Al react, what mass of NH4ClO4, in grams, is required?
The stoichiometric coefficients (the numbers in front of the reactants and products) show that Aluminum and Ammonium Perchlorate are consumed at the exact same rate throughout the reaction: 3 parts of one to 3 parts of another.
1.5x10^5 grams of Aluminum, considering that the formula weight of Aluminum is 26.98 g/mol, is equal to 5,559.7 moles of Aluminum. This means that 5,559.7 moles of Ammonium Perchlorate are required to run the reaction to completion.
The formula weight of Ammonium Perchlorate is 117.49 grams a mole, and multiplying it by 5,559.7 moles to react to completion means that 6.53x10^5 grams of Ammonium Perchlorate is required for the reaction.
