Question

Over the years, the thermite reaction has been used for welding railroad rails, in incendiary bombs, and to ignite solid-fuel rocket motors. The reaction is the following. 3 NiO(s) + 2 Al(s) → 3 Ni(l) + Al2O3(s) What masses of nickel(II) oxide and aluminum must be used to produce 14.8 g of nickel

Answer 1

Answer: The mass of nickel (II) oxide and aluminium that must be used is 18.8 g and 4.54 g respectively.

Explanation:

To calculate the number of moles, we use the equation:

$\text{Number of moles}=\frac{\text{Given mass}}{\text{Molar mass}}$      .....(1)

• For nickel:

Given mass of nickel = 14.8 g

Molar mass of nickel = 58.7 g/mol

Putting values in equation 1, we get:

$\text{Moles of nickel}=\frac{14.8g}{58.7g/mol}=0.252mol$

For the given chemical reaction:

$3NiO(s)+2Al(s)\rightarrow 3Ni(l)+Al_2O_3(s)$

• For nickel (II) oxide:

By Stoichiometry of the reaction:

3 moles of nickel are produced from 3 moles of nickel (II) oxide

So, 0.252 moles of nickel will be produced from $\frac{3}{3}\times 0.252=0.252mol$ of nickel (II) oxide

Now, calculating the mass of nickel (II) oxide by using equation 1:

Molar mass of nickel (II) oxide = 74.7 g/mol

Moles of nickel (II) oxide = 0.252 moles

Putting values in equation 1, we get:

$0.252mol=\frac{\text{Mass of nickel (II) oxide}}{74.7g/mol}\\\\\text{Mass of nickel (II) oxide}=(0.252mol\times 74.7g/mol)=18.8g$

• For aluminium:

By Stoichiometry of the reaction:

3 moles of nickel are produced from 2 moles of aluminium

So, 0.252 moles of nickel will be produced from $\frac{2}{3}\times 0.252=0.168mol$ of aluminium

Now, calculating the mass of aluminium by using equation 1:

Molar mass of aluminium = 27 g/mol

Moles of aluminium = 0.168 moles

Putting values in equation 1, we get:

$0.168mol=\frac{\text{Mass of aluminium}}{27g/mol}\\\\\text{Mass of aluminium}=(0.168mol\times 27g/mol)=4.54g$

Hence, the mass of nickel (II) oxide and aluminium that must be used is 18.8 g and 4.54 g respectively.