Question

The space industry uses liquid oxygen as a fuel for its rocket boosters. How many grams of H20 must be decomposed to make 32000. grams of O2 fuel?(2 H20 → 2H2 + O2)

Answer 1

To make 32,000 grams of O2, 36,040 grams of H2O must be decomposed, according to the equation 2 H2O → 2H2 + O2 with the stoichiometry indicating a 2 to 1 ratio of water to oxygen by moles.

Step-by-step explanation:

To calculate the number of grams of H2O required to decompose to make 32,000 grams of O2, we use the balanced chemical equation:

2 H2O(l) → 2H2(g) + O2(g)

This equation indicates that from every 2 moles of H2O, 1 mole of O2 is produced. First, we need to calculate the number of moles of O2 needed:

Molar mass of O2 = 32.00 g/mol
Moles of O2 required = 32,000 g / 32.00 g/mol = 1,000 moles

Since the reaction stoichiometry is 2:1 (2 moles of H2O for every 1 mole of O2), we need twice as many moles of H2O to decompose:

Moles of H2O required = 1,000 moles O2 × 2 = 2,000 moles H2O

Molar mass of H2O = 18.02 g/mol
Grams of H2O required = 2,000 moles × 18.02 g/mol = 36,040 g

Therefore, to obtain 32,000 grams of O2, 36,040 grams of H2O must be decomposed.