Question

You are harvesting SiO2, silicon dioxide in order to extract the silicon to use in computer chips. Your employer wants to know how much silicon can be obtained from a 500g scoopful of quartz rock, which is pure silicon dioxide. Calculate the number of grams of silicon is in the 500g of quartz rock.

Answer 1

Hello there!

If we assume that the quartz rock is pure silicon dioxide, we only need to use a conversion factor to go from grams of quartz rock (SiO₂) to grams of Silicon. The conversion factor uses the molar mass of SiO₂ (60,08 g/mol) and the atomic mass of Silicon (28,0855 g/mol):


`500 g SiO_2* (1 mol SiO_2)/(60,08 g SiO_2)* (1 mol Si)/(1 mol SiO_2)* (28,0855 g Si)/(1 mol Si)=233,73 g Si`

So, 233,73 grams of Silicon can be obtained.

Have a nice day!