Question

Gaseous methane (CH4) will react with gaseous oxygen (O2) to produce gaseous carbon dioxide (CO) and gaseous water (H2O) . Suppose 0.963 g of methane is mixed with 7.5 g of oxygen. Calculate the minimum mass of methane that could be left over by the chemical reaction. Be sure your answer has the correct number of significant digits.

Answer 1

Answer:

0 g.

Explanation:

Hello,

In this case, since the reaction between methane and oxygen is:

$CH_4+2O_2\rightarrow CO_2+2H_2O$

If 0.963 g of methane react with 7.5 g of oxygen the first step is to identify the limiting reactant for which we compute the available moles of methane and the moles of methane consumed by the 7.5 g of oxygen:

$n_{CH_4}=0.963gCH_4*\frac{1molCH_4}{16gCH_4}=0.0602molCH_4\\ \\n_{CH_4}^{consumed}=7.5gO_2*\frac{1molO_2}{32gO_2}*\frac{1molCH_4}{2molO_2} =0.117molCH_4$

Thus, since oxygen theoretically consumes more methane than the available, we conclude the methane is the limiting reactant, for which it will be completely consumed, therefore, no remaining methane will be left over.

$left\ over=0g$

Regards.