Final answer:
The student's question is about the volumes of carbon dioxide and water vapor produced when ethane combusts with oxygen under given conditions. To answer, ratios from the balanced chemical equation and Avogadro's law regarding gases must be used. Without specifying the limiting reactant, a definitive calculation cannot be made.
Step-by-step explanation:
The student is asking about the combustion of ethane, which is a chemical reaction between ethane (C2H6) and oxygen (O2) that produces carbon dioxide (CO2) and water (H2O). To answer this question, we need to use the ideal gas law and stoichiometry to determine the volumes of carbon dioxide and water vapor produced when 1.26 liters of ethane are burned in 4.50 liters of oxygen, given that all volumes are measured at 400°C and 4.00 atm pressure.
Firstly, we need the balanced chemical equation for the combustion of ethane:
2 C2H6(g) + 7 O2(g) → 4 CO2(g) + 6 H2O(g)
From this equation, we see that 2 moles of ethane react with 7 moles of oxygen to produce 4 moles of carbon dioxide and 6 moles of water vapor. Since the question provides volumes at non-standard conditions and assumes ideal gas behavior, we use the fact that at constant temperature and pressure, the volume of a gas is directly proportional to the number of moles (Avogadro's law). Therefore, we can use ratios to determine the volumes of the products directly from the volumes of the reactants.
Unfortunately, we are not provided with enough information to solve the problem completely because we are not told whether oxygen is the limiting reactant. However, assuming that 1.26 liters of ethane completely reacts with oxygen, one could set up the ratios necessary to calculate the volume of products based on the stoichiometry. If oxygen is the limiting reactant, the calculation would be different, but we need to know the complete balanced reaction and the stoichiometric relationships to proceed. Since the question doesn't specify this, we cannot provide a definitive answer to the volumes of CO2 and H2O formed.