Question

How many grams of hydrogen are produced if 30.0 g of zinc reacts?

Answer 1

0.925 grams if using hydrochloric acid in the reaction. 0.462 grams if using sulfuric acid in the reaction. 0.000 grams if using nitric acid in the reaction. Assuming you're using HCl or a similar acid for this reaction, the equation for the reaction is: Zn + 2 HCl ==> ZnCl2 + H2 So each mole of zinc used, produces 1 mole of hydrogen gas, or 2 moles of hydrogen atoms. So we need to look up the atomic weights of both zinc and hydrogen. Atomic weight zinc = 65.38 Atomic weight hydrogen = 1.00794 Moles zinc = 30.0 g / 65.38 g/mol = 0.458855919 mol Since we produce 2 moles of hydrogen atoms per mole of zinc, multiply by 2 and the atomic weight of hydrogen to get the mass of hydrogen produced. So 0.458855919 * 2 * 1.00794 = 0.92499847 grams. Rounding to 3 significant figures gives 0.925 grams. To show the assumption of the acid used, the balanced equation for sulfuric acid would be Zn2 + H2SO4 ==> Zn(SO4)2 + H2 Which means that for every mole of zinc used, 1 mole of hydrogen gas is generated (half that produced via hydrochloric acid). If nitric acid were used, the reaction is 4Zn + 10HNO3 ==> 4Zn(NO3)2 + N2O + 5H2O Which means that NO hydrogen gas is generated. The only justification for assuming hydrochloric acid is used is that it's a fairly common acid that's easy to obtain. But as shown above with 2 alternative acids, the amount of hydrogen gas generated is very dependent upon the exact chemical reaction occurring and asking "How many grams of hydrogen are produced if 30.0 g of zinc reacts?" is a rather silly question unless you specify EXACTLY what the reaction is.