Final answer:
With 6 carbon, 18 oxygen, and 12 hydrogen atoms, only one glucose molecule (C6H12O6) can be produced because each glucose molecule requires 6 carbon, 12 hydrogen, and 6 oxygen atoms.
Step-by-step explanation:
To determine how many glucose molecules can be made with 6 carbon (C), 18 oxygen (O), and 12 hydrogen (H) atoms, we look at the molecular formula of glucose, which is C6H12O6. This indicates that one molecule of glucose consists of 6 carbon atoms, 12 hydrogen atoms, and 6 oxygen atoms.
Given the number of atoms we have:
- Carbon atoms: 6
- Oxygen atoms: 18
- Hydrogen atoms: 12
We have exactly enough atoms to make three glucose molecules, given that each requires 6 carbon, 6 oxygen, and 12 hydrogen atoms. To confirm, for three glucose molecules we would need:
- Carbon atoms: 6 x 3 = 18
- Oxygen atoms: 6 x 3 = 18
- Hydrogen atoms: 12 x 3 = 36
Since we do not have enough carbon atoms (we need 18 but have only 6), the number of glucose molecules we can produce is one.