Question

Breathing equipment used by rescue workers needs to capture the CO2 the humans breath out and produce O2 for them to breath in, like a plant during photosynthesis. One compound capable of doing this is potassium superoxide (KO2), which produces the salt by-product potassium carbonate. What is the balanced chemical equation for this reaction? Don't include states of matter.

Answer 1

Answer: $4KO_2+2CO_2\rightarrow 2K_2CO_3+3O_2$

Explanation:

According to the law of conservation of mass, mass can neither be created nor be destroyed. Thus the mass of products has to be equal to the mass of reactants. The number of atoms of each element has to be same on reactant and product side. Thus chemical equations are balanced.

The balanced chemical equation for reaction of potassium superoxide  with carbon dioxide to produce oxygen and potassium carbonate will be:

$4KO_2+2CO_2\rightarrow 2K_2CO_3+3O_2$