Answer:
23.6 g carbon dioxide comes from 8.6 g of CH4 or 10.7 g carbon dioxide comes from 15.6 g O that means the 15.6 g of oxygen is still the limiting reactant because it gets used up and only makes 10.7 g of CO2.
Step-by-step explanation:
1) Balanced chemical equation:
CH₄ + 2O₂ → CO₂ + 2H₂O
2) mole ratios:
1 mol CH₄ : 2mol O₂ : 1 mol CO₂ : 2 mol H₂O
3) molar masses
CH₄: 16.04 g/mol
O₂: 32.0 g/mol
CO₂: 44.01 g/mol
4) Convert the reactant masses to number of moles, using the formula
number of moles = mass in grams / molar mass
CH₄: 8.6g / 16.04 g/mol = 0.5362 moles
O₂: 15.6 g / 32.0 g/mol = 0.4875 moles
5) If the whole 0.5632 moles of CH₄ reacted that yields to the same number of moles of CO₂ and that is a mass of:
mass of CO₂ = number of moles x molar mass = 23.60 g of CO₂
Which is what the first part of the answer says.
6) If the whole 0.4875 moles of O₂ reacted that would yield 0.4875 / 2 = 0.24375 moles of CO₂, and that is a mass of:
mass of CO₂ = 0.4875 grams x 44.01 g/mol = 10.7 grams of CO₂.
Which is what the second part of the answer says.
7) From the mole ratio you know infere that 0.5362 moles of CH₄ needs more twice number of moles of O₂, that is 1.0724 moles of O₂, and since there are only 0.4875 moles of O₂, this is the limiting reactant.
Which is what the chosen answer says.
8) From the mole ratios 0.4875 moles of O₂ produce 0.4875 / 2 moles of CO₂, and that is:
0.4875 / 2 mols x 44.01 g/mol = 10.7 g of CO₂, which is the last part of the answer.