Answer:
the mass of sodium chloride that can be produced when 25.5 grams of Na reacts with 52.0 grams of Cl2 is 42.34 grams.
Step-by-step explanation:
To find the mass of sodium chloride produced and identify the limiting reactant in the reaction \(2Na + Cl_2 \rightarrow 2NaCl\), you need to follow these steps:
1. Convert the given masses of sodium (Na) and chlorine (Cl2) to moles.
2. Determine the stoichiometry of the reaction to find the molar ratio.
3. Identify the limiting reactant.
4. Calculate the mass of sodium chloride (NaCl) produced.
Let's go through the calculations:
1. Calculate moles of Na:
Moles of Na = Mass of Na (g) / Molar mass of Na (g/mol)
Moles of Na = 25.5 g / 22.99 g/mol = 1.109 moles
2. Calculate moles of Cl2:
Moles of Cl2 = Mass of Cl2 (g) / Molar mass of Cl2 (g/mol)
Moles of Cl2 = 52.0 g / 70.9 g/mol = 0.733 moles
3. Determine the stoichiometry of the reaction. According to the balanced chemical equation, 2 moles of Na react with 1 mole of Cl2 to produce 2 moles of NaCl.
4. To find the limiting reactant, compare the actual moles of each reactant to the stoichiometric ratio. The reactant that produces the least amount of product is the limiting reactant.
For Na, you have 1.109 moles, and for Cl2, you have 0.733 moles. The stoichiometric ratio for Na:Cl2 is 2:1.
- For Na, if 1.109 moles were used, it would require 1.109/2 = 0.5545 moles of Cl2.
- For Cl2, you have 0.733 moles.
Since 0.733 moles of Cl2 are greater than 0.5545 moles (the amount needed according to the stoichiometry), Cl2 is the limiting reactant.
Now that you've identified Cl2 as the limiting reactant, you can calculate the mass of NaCl produced using the limiting reactant (Cl2):
Moles of NaCl produced = Moles of Cl2 (the limiting reactant)
Moles of NaCl produced = 0.733 moles
Now, calculate the mass of NaCl:
Mass of NaCl (g) = Moles of NaCl × Molar mass of NaCl (g/mol)
Mass of NaCl (g) = 0.733 moles × (22.99 g/mol + 35.45 g/mol) = 42.34 g
So, the mass of sodium chloride that can be produced when 25.5 grams of Na reacts with 52.0 grams of Cl2 is 42.34 grams.