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Ch.3 - Chemical Reactions and Reaction Stoichiometry
Chapter 3, Problem 77b

Sodium hydroxide reacts with carbon dioxide as follows: 2 NaOH(s) + CO2(g) → Na2CO3(s) + H2O(l) How many moles of Na2CO3 can be produced?

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Identify the balanced chemical equation: 2NaOH+CO2Na2CO3+H2O.
Determine the stoichiometric relationship between NaOH and Na2CO3 from the balanced equation. Here, 2 moles of NaOH produce 1 mole of Na2CO3.
Calculate the moles of NaOH available, if not given, using the formula: moles=massmolar mass.
Use the stoichiometric ratio from the balanced equation to find the moles of Na2CO3 produced. For every 2 moles of NaOH, 1 mole of Na2CO3 is produced.
Verify that the amount of CO2 is sufficient to react with the available NaOH, ensuring that NaOH is the limiting reactant.

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Key Concepts

Here are the essential concepts you must grasp in order to answer the question correctly.

Stoichiometry

Stoichiometry is the branch of chemistry that deals with the quantitative relationships between the reactants and products in a chemical reaction. It allows us to calculate the amount of substances consumed and produced in a reaction based on balanced chemical equations. In this case, understanding the stoichiometric coefficients in the reaction is essential to determine how many moles of Na2CO3 can be produced from the given amounts of NaOH and CO2.
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Balanced Chemical Equation

A balanced chemical equation represents a chemical reaction with equal numbers of each type of atom on both sides of the equation. This ensures the law of conservation of mass is upheld. In the provided reaction, the coefficients indicate that two moles of NaOH react with one mole of CO2 to produce one mole of Na2CO3 and one mole of H2O, which is crucial for calculating the moles of products formed.
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Mole Concept

The mole concept is a fundamental principle in chemistry that relates the mass of a substance to the number of particles it contains. One mole of any substance contains Avogadro's number of entities (approximately 6.022 x 10^23). This concept is vital for converting between grams and moles, allowing us to determine how many moles of Na2CO3 can be produced based on the initial amounts of NaOH and CO2 used in the reaction.
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