Question

Using the balanced chemical reaction: 2SO2 + 2H2O + O2 → 2H2SO4, what is the mass of sulfuric acid formed from 3.20 moles of sulfur?

Answer 1

To find the mass of sulfuric acid produced from 3.20 moles of sulfur, we determine the moles of SO2 produced from sulfur, use the 1:1 mole ratio in the balanced equation to find the moles of H2SO4, and then multiply by the molar mass of H2SO4 to get the mass.

Step-by-step explanation:

To calculate the mass of sulfuric acid (H2SO4) formed from 3.20 moles of sulfur (S), we must use the balanced chemical equation provided:

2SO2 + 2H2O + O2 → 2H2SO4

First, we need to determine the moles of SO2 produced from the sulfur:

• Using the mole ratio from sulfur to SO2, from the equation S + O2 → SO2, we find that 1 mole of S yields 1 mole of SO2, so 3.20 moles of S will produce 3.20 moles of SO2.

Next, we see from the provided equation that the mole ratio of SO2 to H2SO4 is 1:1:

• Therefore, 3.20 moles of SO2 will lead to the production of 3.20 moles of H2SO4.

Finally, we convert moles of H2SO4 to mass:

• The molar mass of H2SO4 is approximately 98.08 g/mol.
• Therefore, the mass of H2SO4 produced from 3.20 moles of SO2 is 3.20 moles × 98.08 g/mol = 313.86 grams of H2SO4 (to three significant figures).