Question

Ammonium perchlorate (NH,CIO) is the solid rocket fuel used by the U.S. Space Shuttle. It reacts with itself to produce nitrogen gas (N), chlorine gas (CI), oxygen gas (O), water (H1,), and a great deal of energy, What mass of oxygen gas is produced by the reaction of 8.84 g of ammonium perchlorate? Be sure your answer has the correct number of significant digits.

Answer 1

Answer: The mass of oxygen gas produced is 2.4 grams

Explanation:

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

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

Given mass of ammonium perchlorate = 8.84 g

Molar mass of ammonium perchlorate = 117.5 g/mol

Putting values in equation 1, we get:

$\text{Moles of ammonium perchlorate}=\frac{8.84g}{117.5g/mol}=0.0752mol$

The chemical equation for the decomposition of ammonium perchlorate follows:

$2NH_4ClO_4\rightarrow N_2+Cl_2+2O_2+4H_2O$

By Stoichiometry of the reaction:

2 moles of ammonium perchlorate produces 2 moles of oxygen gas.

So, 0.0752 moles of ammonium perchlorate will produce = $\frac{2}{2}\times 0.0752=0.0752mol$ of oxygen gas

Now, calculating the mass of oxygen gas from equation 1, we get:

Molar mass of oxygen gas = 32 g/mol

Moles of oxygen gas = 0.0752 moles

Putting values in equation 1, we get:

$0.0752mol=\frac{\text{Mass of oxygen gas}}{32g/mol}\\\\\text{Mass of oxygen gas}=(0.0752mol\times 32g/mol)=2.4g$

Hence, the mass of oxygen gas produced is 2.4 grams