Question

In a space shuttle, the CO2 that the crew exhales is removed from the air by a reaction within canisters of lithium hydroxide. What mass of water will be produced when 956g of CO2 reacts with LiOH each day?

The unbalanced equation is:
CO2 + LiOH -> H2O + Li2CO3

Answer 1

To determine the mass of water produced from the reaction of 956 g of CO2 with LiOH in a space shuttle, the balanced equation CO2 + 2LiOH → H2O + Li2CO3 is used. Converting grams to moles, it's found that 391.34 g of water will be produced from the reaction each day.

Step-by-step explanation:

To calculate the mass of water produced from the reaction of CO2 with LiOH, we first need to write the balanced chemical equation. Two moles of lithium hydroxide react with one mole of carbon dioxide to produce two moles of water and one mole of lithium carbonate. Thus, the balanced equation is:

CO2 + 2LiOH → H2O + Li2CO3

Now we use the molar masses of the compounds to convert grams to moles and vice versa. The molar mass of CO2 is approximately 44.01 g/mol, and the molar mass of H2O is about 18.02 g/mol.

First, calculate the number of moles of CO2:

• 956 g CO2 × (1 mol CO2 / 44.01 g CO2) = 21.72 moles of CO2

Since the reaction produces 1 mole of water for every mole of CO2, we'll also have 21.72 moles of water.

• 21.72 moles H2O × (18.02 g H2O / 1 mol H2O) = 391.34 g of H2O

391.34 g of water will be produced when 956 g of CO2 reacts with LiOH each day.