Question

Wine goes bad soon after opening because the ethanol (C₂H₅OH)dissolved in it reacts with oxygen(O₂)gas to form water and aqueous acetic acid(C₂H₄O₂),the main ingredient in vinegar. Calculate the moles of ethanol needed to produce 0.10 mol of acetic acid. Be sure your answer has a unit symbol if necessary and round it to the correct number of significant digits.

a) 0.05 mol
b) 0.10 mol
c) 0.20 mol
d) 0.30 mol

Answer 1

The number of moles of ethanol needed to produce 0.10 mol of acetic acid is 0.10 mol.

Step-by-step explanation:

To calculate the moles of ethanol needed to produce 0.10 mol of acetic acid, we need to use the balanced chemical equation and stoichiometry. The balanced equation for this reaction is:

C2H5OH + O2 → CH3COOH + H2O

From the equation, we can see that the mole ratio between ethanol and acetic acid is 1:1. Therefore, the number of moles of ethanol needed to produce 0.10 mol of acetic acid is also 0.10 mol.