Question

The bonds of oxygen molecules are broken by sunlight. The minimum energy required to break the oxygen-oxygen bond is 495 kJ/mol. What is the wavelength of sunlight that can cause this bond breakage?

Answer 1

Answer:

The wavelength of sunlight that can cause this bond breakage is 242 nm

Explanation:

The minimum energy of the sunlight that'll break Oxygen-oxygen bond must match 495 KJ/mol

But 1 mole of any molecule contains 6.02 × 10²³ molecules/mol

Each molecule of Oxygen will require (495 × 10³)/(6.02 × 10²³) = 8.22 × 10⁻¹⁹ J

E = hf

v = fλ

f = v/λ

f = frequency of the sunlight

λ = wavelength of the sunlight

v = speed of light = 3.0 × 10⁸ m/s

E = hv/λ

λ = hv/E

h = Planck's constant = 6.63 × 10⁻³⁴ J.s

λ = (6.63 × 10⁻³⁴)(3 × 10⁸)/(8.22 × 10⁻¹⁹)

λ = 2.42 × 10⁻⁷ m = 242 nm.