Question

If a particular utility burned 9.80 million tons of coal that was 2.00% sulfur by weight, how many tons of sulfur dioxide was emitted?Enter your answer in scientific notation.

Answer 1

The chemical reaction is:

S + O2 --> SO2

First, let's find out the mass of sulfur in grams.

Let's transform 9.8 x 10^6 tons into grams. Let's multiply by 10^6:

9.8 x 10^12 g of coal.

2% of it is sulfur, so:

9.8 x 10^12 g of coal --- 100%

x g of sulfur --- 2%

x = 1.96 x 10^11 g of Sulfur

Now let's transform it to moles using the following formula: moles = mass/molar mass

molar mass of S:

moles = 1.96 x 10^11/32

moles = 6.125 x 10^9 moles of S

The reaction ratio between S and SO2 is 1:1, so it is emitted 6.125 x 10^9 moles of SO2 as well.

Let's transform it to mass using the following formula:

mass = moles x molar mass

molar mass of SO2: 64 g/mol

mass = 6.125 x 10^9 x 64

mass = 3.92 x 10^11 g

Let's transform it to tons:

3.92 x 10^11/10^6 = 3.92 x 10^5 tons

Answer: 3.92 x 10^5 tons